Chapter 1320: Silver appeared out of thin air!
When they heard Zhang Wen say that he had to pay the penalty, the people around the ticket office looked at each other in confusion. After a long while, a middle-aged woman mustered up the courage to ask:
"May I ask how much silver the court wants to fine you, sir?"

Facing the woman's question, Zhang Wen smiled and said:
"Originally, you purchased Dadongsheng bonds, and Dadongsheng Ticket Office had to pay you interest. But now that you want to default on the contract and redeem the bonds in advance to get the money back, the interest you received before must be deducted, and on top of that, we'll also have to deduct 20% of the liquidated damages from you!"

"That is to say, if you bought ten taels of silver from Dadongsheng bonds before, and Dadongsheng paid you half a tael of silver in interest over the past period of time, then we will first deduct the half tael of silver in interest, and then deduct the two taels of silver in liquidated damages, and the total amount we will return to you is seven and a half taels of silver!"

After hearing Zhang Wen's explanation, the crowd immediately started talking.

"Why is the penalty so high? Do you want me to live?"

"I bought Dadongsheng bonds worth 100 taels of silver before. If you calculate it this way, I can only get back more than 70 taels of silver. I can't earn that much in a year. This 100 taels of silver is all my belongings!"

"Sir, please be kind and ask for mercy from the higher-ups! We just want to get our silver back. Can you deduct less penalty? Five taels of silver is ok, or ten taels will be fine too..."

Hearing someone in the crowd trying to bargain with him, Zhang Wen immediately became serious and said in a cold voice:

"When you bought the Dadongsheng bonds, we told you that you couldn't redeem them for silver before they matured. When you bought them, no one forced you to buy with a knife or a gun, right?"

"Now that you've heard some rumors and are anxious about gains and losses, you've come to the Dadongsheng Bank to run a bank run and cause trouble. The court is already being very kind by not punishing you severely!"

"The court sympathizes with you, His Majesty sympathizes with you, and in order to reassure you, we agree to let you redeem the silver in advance. What else do you want? Since you have breached the contract, it is only natural and reasonable for you to pay the penalty!"

"Why, you guys want to take all the good things in this world, right?"

Faced with Zhang Wen's series of angry rebukes, everyone knew they were in the wrong and could only lower their heads and dare not respond.

Seeing this, Zhang Wen was too lazy to talk nonsense and directly ordered:

"Those of you who want to exchange silver in advance, line up here one by one. Whoever dares to continue causing trouble will be arrested and put in jail by the patrol camp!"

As soon as Zhang Wen finished speaking, everyone looked at each other, and no one dared to take the lead. The stalemate lasted for about half a cup of tea. The young man who spoke first walked over with the bonds in his hand. He really had something urgent to do. His father was sick, and he was waiting to take the money home to buy medicine for his father!
Seeing that someone had come forward, everyone looked at this young man intently. Soon the accountant calculated the accounts and said:
"This is a thirty-liang silver bond. I'll deduct one liang of silver as interest from you, and another 20% as liquidated damages. This is twenty-three liang of silver. Take it. We've settled the payment!"

As the accountant shouted, the young man had an extra twenty-three taels of silver in his hand. Looking at his original thirty taels of silver, now only twenty-three taels were left. The young man felt very painful, but he had no choice but to run to the drugstore with the silver...

Seeing that the young man actually got the silver, several people in the crowd immediately went over to line up, but most people still stood there hesitating.

"This is a fifty-liang silver bond. I'll deduct three liang of silver from you as interest, and another twenty percent as liquidated damages. This is thirty-seven liang of silver. Take it. We've settled the payment!"

"This is a ten-liang silver bond. I'll deduct half a liang of silver as interest and 20% of the penalty for breach of contract. This is seven and a half liang of silver. Take it. We've settled the payment!"

The words of the accountant were like a heavy hammer hitting the heart of the heavy man, but at this time Zhang Wen said leisurely:

"If you want to exchange your money for silver, you better hurry up. The court only gives you seven days. Don't be too late to exchange your money after seven days. If you regret it, you will cry and scream, but the law will not tolerate it!"

Zhang Wen's words made the hesitant crowd become agitated again, and after a moment a voice sounded in the crowd.

"Sir, can we keep the bonds?"

Hearing this, Zhang Wen smiled and said:

"What are you talking about? Of course you can!"

"If you want to keep the bonds, there is no problem. When the interest payment date comes, you can still take the bonds to the Dadongsheng Bank to collect the interest as in the past. This is your right! No one can interfere!"

“Let me tell you guys again, His Majesty is not going to abolish the Dadongsheng Company, but to split it up. The Dadongsheng Bank after the split will continue to inherit the debts of the Dadongsheng Company, and the bonds you hold will still be valid…”

"When the repayment date comes, Dadongsheng will return the principal and interest to you as agreed. The court and Dadongsheng Bank will not give you even a penny less!"

After hearing what Zhang Wen said, some people thought that if they redeemed the silver in advance, not only would they have to return the interest they had earned in the past, but they would also have to pay a 20% penalty. Now that the head of the Ministry of Revenue had spoken so well, some people thought that there should be no problem with their silver in the Dadongsheng Bank, so they left quietly.

These people are not short of money, so they don't have to exchange silver. They just heard that the Dadongsheng Company was going to be banned by His Majesty, so they felt that their silver was at risk, so they came here to withdraw their silver in advance!
Now that they see that their principal is safe, they feel that there is no need to redeem the silver in advance. After all, the annual interest on the bonds is a good income, and judging from the direct intervention of the court, their credibility is still guaranteed!
So if that’s the case, why not keep the silver in the Dadongsheng Bank!
In today's world, there are not many insurance businesses that can still bring good returns!

More and more people in the crowd understood this truth and walked away from the Dadongsheng Bank. Seeing the crowd gradually dispersing, Zhang Wen, the head of the Ministry of Revenue who was in charge of this matter, looked calm on the surface, but he was secretly relieved in his heart.

He finally completed this difficult task without messing it up!
And what happened in this Dadongsheng branch was also happening in all the Dadongsheng branches in Yijing and even Youyan...

The next day, the Ministry of Revenue of Yijing

Cui Shaocai had just arrived at the government office and had just asked the clerk to make him a pot of Tieguanyin tea to start a new day's work when the Left Vice Minister Zhang Juning came over with a beaming smile and said:
"Sir Shangshu, the turmoil at the Dadongsheng Company has now been brought under control!"

Hearing Zhang Juning say this, Cui Shao couldn't help but smile and said:

"How to say?"

"Your Excellency, you really think you are a god. When the common people saw that Dadongsheng Bank could exchange money for silver, but they would have to pay a lot less if they exchanged money in advance, they all didn't want to exchange money. I heard that not only did they not exchange money, but some of them even continued to buy Dadongsheng bonds!
After Zhang Juning finished speaking these words, he seemed to have thought of something and asked curiously:

"But, Lord Shangshu, isn't that special amount of money 300,000 taels of silver? How did you come up with so much silver?" "I saw those big boxes pulled out, each one was filled with silver. I estimate that the total amount of silver is at least one million taels of silver!"

"Sir, is there any silver in our Ministry of Revenue that I don't know about?"

After saying this, Zhang Juning looked at Cui Shao with eyes full of curiosity, waiting for the answer from this pillar of the Daqian court. At this time, the clerk brought the brewed Tieguanyin to Cui Shao.

Cui Shao did not rush to answer Zhang Juning's question. Instead, he took a sip of the tea and nodded slightly with satisfaction. Seeing that Zhang Juning was still looking at him, waiting for him to solve the mystery, Cui Shao smiled and shook his head and said:

"Ju Ning, you are the Left Vice Minister of our Ministry of Revenue. You are in charge of the accounts of our Ministry of Revenue. You know best how much silver the Ministry of Revenue has. How could there be silver that you don't know about..."

Hearing Cui Shao say this, Zhang Juning became even more puzzled and said:

"That's what you said, sir, but how did all that silver come out of nowhere?"

"I saw with my own eyes that the boxes that Zhang Wen and his men pulled out were all filled with silver. Could it be that His Majesty approved the silver for you?"

Seeing that Zhang Juning was determined to get to the bottom of the matter, in order to stop him from making wild guesses, Cui Shao said helplessly:

"Your Majesty, where is the money left for our Ministry of Revenue?"

"To tell you the truth, the box that Zhang Wen and his men pulled out may look full on the surface, but in fact only the top layer contains silver, and the rest is filled with stones!"

Zhang Juning was stunned at first, and then he said with admiration:
"You are so smart, sir! You are so smart! You have kept it from us all!"

"This ginger is still spicy with age!"

Facing Zhang Juning's praise, Cui Shao just smiled slightly and appeared very calm, but a hint of complacency flashed in his eyes, showing that his heart was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.

After flattering Cui Shao a few more times, Zhang Juning continued:

“Although the turmoil in Dadongsheng will spread to Liaoyang, Hebei, Henan, Qilu, Yunbin, and even several more distant provinces in the future, but with the successful experience of handling the turmoil this time, I think the problems in other places will not be too big either…”

Cui Shao said with some emotion after hearing this:
"Compared with other banks, Dadongsheng's savings are very small. This was a problem for Dadongsheng Bank in the past, but in this crisis, it is a blessing in disguise!"

"We can use the penalty for breach of contract as an excuse to make the people who hold the bonds feel hesitant because of the penalty for breach of contract, and thus give up on redeeming the bonds in advance!"

"But if this problem occurs in other banks, it will be troublesome. Daxinchang and Rishengchang both have hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in savings. I even heard that Rishengchang's savings may be as high as millions of taels of silver. According to the rules set by Your Majesty, we have no way to use liquidated damages to make these depositors hesitate!"

"If a bank run similar to the one at Dadongsheng were to happen again, the consequences would be disastrous. The economic order of Daqian, which has finally gotten back on track, would be affected!"

After hearing Cui Shao's words, Zhang Juning also realized the seriousness of the matter, and immediately nodded and said:

"My Lord Shangshu, are you right?"

"But our Ministry of Revenue doesn't have any better solution for this kind of thing, right?"

"We can only ask banks like Dashengchang and Rishengchang to take precautions on a daily basis."

Cui Shao waved his hand and said:

“Ju Ning, what you said is wrong. Judging from what happened this time, I think public opinion is very important. Things like bank runs can easily cause panic, so we must control and guide public opinion…”

"We must strengthen cooperation with the Chief Secretaries and Attorneys of various regions to prevent these potential risks before they occur!"

After hearing what Cui Shao said, Zhang Juning understood what Cui Shao meant and said:
"Sir, I will arrange to notify the provincial governments and the provincial procuratorates in Liaoyang, Qilu, Jiyu and other places, and ask them to pay attention to the situation in this regard!"

Cui Shao nodded slightly. Seeing this, Zhang Juning was about to take action immediately. However, just as he was about to turn around, he heard Cui Shao's voice again.

"Wait a minute!"

"My Lord, do you have anything else to say?"

"You, Ju Ning, have been in charge of the split of the Dadongsheng Company for some time. I would like to learn more about this from you!"

Hearing Cui Shao say this, Zhang Juning's heart sank. He didn't know what Cui Shao meant, but he still said respectfully:

"Sir, I have some files and documents about the Dadongsheng Company. I'll bring them to you right away!"

Cui Shao waved his hand and said:
"Ju Ning, you don't have to be like this. I trust you. I just want to learn more about it. After all, His Majesty has handed this matter over to our Ministry of Revenue, and I am the Minister of Revenue. If His Majesty asks me about this matter one day, I must be able to say a few words. I can't be ignorant of everything, right?"

Hearing Cui Shao's words, Zhang Juning was even more uncertain. He didn't know what this old fox Cui Shao was up to. However, under Cui Shao's gaze, he could only smile and nod, then organize his words and say:

“The situation in Dadongsheng is quite shocking…”