My father is Jiajing

Chapter 393 A Real Man Can't Live Without Power

The heads of the salt merchants' and Shanxi merchants' banks sat together for a rare occasion.

Normally, the two sides are business competitors. However, since the emergence of the Beijing Special District Development Bank, the banks here have had subtle contacts many times in the past year or so.

Now facing Gao Gong's invitation, the leaders of both sides thought of the same thing at the same time, so they met again before going to accept Gao Gong's invitation.

"Hello, Shopkeeper Qiao."

"Hello, shopkeeper Qian."

Qiao Wanjin, the representative of the Shanxi Merchants' Silver Bank, and Qian Qiben, the representative of the Salt Merchants' Silver Bank, bowed and greeted each other when they met.

Qian Qiben invited Qiao Wanjin, and the two of them walked into a private teahouse together.

In a private room, two people sat aside, looking at each other.

Both of them were filled with emotion. They did not expect that their former business rivals would now be sitting together and having a private conversation.

Qian Qiben helped Qiao Wanjin pour a cup of tea. "Manager Qiao, have a taste. This is our famous Jiangnan tea, Longjing before the rain. It was just delivered along the canal."

Qiao Wanjin took a sip of the Longjing tea that Qian Qiben pushed over and praised it, "It has a refreshing fragrance and lingers on your tongue. It's much better than our tea."

Qian Qiben laughed and thought, don't you Shanxi people drink vinegar? How can you be as elegant and particular as us Jiangnan people?
But now the two sides are in a cooperative relationship, so there will not be such a sharp confrontation.

What's more, the strength of Shanxi merchants should not be underestimated, especially in the business in the Nine Borders and grasslands. Where can you not see the shadow of Shanxi merchants?
Although strictly speaking some of the Shanxi merchants' businesses were smuggling and black market trading, the salt merchants were not necessarily much cleaner than the Shanxi merchants.

Moreover, the territory of the Ming Dynasty was so vast, there were so many things to do, and the relationships were so complicated that even if the court knew about it, it was powerless to solve their problems. It could only accept it, issue them corresponding licenses, and then ask them to pay a certain license fee.

Therefore, it is difficult to say that their business is smuggling, after all, they have permission from the government.

Therefore, even traditional scholars and landlords had to accept this powerful business group and would even go along with them to seize the wealth of the people and the interests of the court.

It can be said that this group of people has reached the point where they have connections everywhere, otherwise they would not be so arrogant and so brazen.

After Qiao Wanjin finished his Longjing tea, he looked at Qian Qiben and asked, "What did Manager Qian want me to do?"

Qian Qiben said with a smile: "Manager Qiao asked knowingly, Senior Officer Gao has invited us, do we dare to refuse?"

Qiao Wanjin laughed and said he really didn't dare.

Qian Qiben looked at Qiao Wanjin who was laughing, and said, "In fact, the reason I invited Manager Qiao here this time is to reach an agreement with him that we can both advance and retreat together. You can see that over the past year or so, 70% to 80% of the deposit business in the capital has been taken up by the Beijing Special Zone Development Bank."

"Although our roots are not in the capital, if we continue like this, our employers will definitely think that we are both useless. By the time the time comes, when new people come, we will never have a chance to succeed." Qian Qiben said it very bluntly. Qiao Wanjin understood this principle, but in the final analysis, they were just workers who looked after the boss. Although they knew the situation in the capital clearly, they could not control whether the employers would understand if they wrote letters or asked others to deliver letters to them.

After all, before the emergence of the Beijing Special District Development Bank, there were only two of them who could share the capital's silver bank business. As for the local silver banks in the capital and the Huizhou silver banks that were so difficult to get in, there was nothing to worry about.

But now, it took the Beijing Special Economic Zone Development Bank just over a year to squeeze both of them to the edge, which made them feel a sense of crisis.

Qiao Wanjin sighed, took another sip of tea, and said, "Brother Qian is right. Even if we tell our bosses about the situation in Beijing, they won't believe it so easily. If we can't think of a good way to unite, then the final result will definitely be something we can't bear."

"Although I have left the capital, I will return to Shanxi, and Brother Qian will also return to Jiangnan. But after returning, whether we will sit on the bench or be reused by the boss, it is hard to say."

Qian Qiben said, "Yes, Brother Qiao. So I have come up with a solution. No matter what the tall guy tells us, we must stand firm and advance and retreat together. We cannot let the Beijing Special Economic Zone Development Bank bully us again."

Qiao Wanjin nodded in agreement and said, "It's settled then."

Seeing Qiao Wanjin agree to his proposal, Qian Qiben smiled brightly. He stood up and poured a cup of tea for Qiao Wanjin. "I don't have anything special to offer, but Brother Qiao, you can take two packs of this Rainforest Longjing tea with you when you leave."

Qiao Wanjin laughed and said, "Okay, okay, I will give Brother Qian two jars of the best secret Shanxi aged vinegar in return someday. Such good stuff cannot be bought outside!"

Qian Qiben laughed and agreed, thinking at the same time: Who cares about your Shanxi aged vinegar? We in Jiangnan also have our own Zhenjiang vinegar, right? Besides, we in Jiangnan prefer sweet food to sour food. Who should I give such a sour thing to?
However, on the surface, Qian Qiben still acted flattered and seemed to like the Shanxi aged vinegar that Qiao Wanjin mentioned.

After the two reached a cooperation agreement, they quietly left this private teahouse one after another, and then began to secretly use their connections to contact people in the Beijing Special Economic Zone Development Bank to see if it was possible to get some inside information in advance.

But unfortunately, at present, only Zhu Zaigui knew about this matter, and Gao Gong was only responsible for making appointments.

Therefore, it is doomed to be impossible for the two to know some so-called insider information.

Three days later, the meeting time agreed upon by Gao Gong, Shanxi Merchants’ Silver Bank and Salt Merchants’ Silver Bank finally arrived.

On this day, Zhu Zaigui also changed into casual clothes and went out, quietly bringing a few plainclothes guards and Meng Chong to the Beijing Special Zone Development Bank.

Looking at this new bank that he founded, Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "It's great to have power!"

Otherwise, how could it be possible to build a bank and gain a foothold in the capital in such a quick manner?

It turns out that the ancients never lied to me!

A real man cannot live without power for a day!
After expressing his feelings, Zhu Zaigui walked into the Beijing Special Economic Zone Development Bank with a relaxed and confident step and began his new performance!

(End of this chapter)