Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Just then, an official rushed in, banging a gong and announcing: "The imperial court reiterates the law that any loan with an interest rate exceeding the legal maximum is an illegal usury."

"Not only are the loan agreements void, but borrowers can also report the matter to the authorities and receive a reward!"

Zhao Shu, who was already contemplating jumping into the river, suddenly jumped up and down upon hearing this, shouting wildly in the exchange: "Long live the Ming Dynasty! Long live the Emperor! Long live His Majesty! My mortgaged house won't be taken away!"

Zhao Shu actually borrowed money from loan sharks to speculate on loans, and he didn't even tell his brother, for fear that Zhao Kai would be jealous and ask him for money.

Your Majesty's move can be described as killing several birds with one stone.

They took the opportunity to issue the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes in Tokyo and also allowed the silver coins in the cellars of wealthy households to circulate again.

At the same time, it also taught a harsh lesson to the wealthy businessmen in Tokyo and reiterated the law against usury.

Those Jews in Beijing are probably going to lose everything this time!

Those orders issued by His Majesty will take a few more days to be picked up.

what should we do?

The merchants who had just bought His Majesty's shipping documents shouted as they walked outside the exchange, "Who wants to exchange their orders?"

Many retail investors were stunned for a moment, then realized what was going on and rushed over shouting, "I want to change my order! I want to change my order!"

The delivery date on the bill of lading specifies a period from one day to another.

As long as the goods are picked up within this time period, no additional warehouse fees will be charged.

If no one comes to renew the payment within three days of the delivery period, the goods will be taken by the exchange.

The current situation is as follows—

Merchants bought His Majesty's cheap cloth and wanted to retail it to the people the next day, but the invoices they had were not yet due for delivery.

Retail investors, however, have a large number of futures contracts, and even contracts that have expired and have already been renewed.

If both parties exchange invoices, the traders can pick up their goods for retail the next day, while the retail traders can save on warehouse fees.

A wealthy merchant would never do such a thing.

But how many retail investors can resist the urge?

For them, minimizing losses is the best outcome!

Sitting in the carriage, Li Wenzhong looked at the bustling scene outside the exchange and couldn't help but sigh, "I was really too clever for my own good, thinking I could exploit a loophole in the exchange."

"His Majesty has planned this carefully before acting; he has already set a trap for us to enter."

Li Dunyi said, "We started buying up the goods early, and even though we bought a lot more after the price went up, we still have warehouses to store the cloth."

"Just pick up the goods when they expire. If you leave them in the warehouse and sell them slowly, you'll only lose a few tens of thousands of coins."

Of course, that's not how you calculate it.

The Li family's warehouse was piled high with cloth, and for a long time to come, they would no longer be able to trade it back and forth to make a profit; they would have to find suitable prices for normal bulk purchases.

Moreover, there have been instances where merchants, seeing the booming business in Tokyo's cloth market, rushed home to collect their goods and then shipped them back.

The new goods brought in by merchants, along with the goods that His Majesty has sold, will lead to a prolonged period of low cloth prices in Tokyo.

As a result, Tokyo Fukushima became a retailer's domain.

The once arrogant and powerful merchants now have to beg retailers to sell their goods.

On the surface, the Li family only lost tens of thousands of strings of cash, but in reality, they lost their bargaining power and had a pile of goods stuck in the warehouse, unable to do anything else.

In this situation, they can't even sell their orders by lowering prices, because His Majesty has driven the prices down to the absolute bottom.

Chapter 3351 Iron Shavings Tower

The next day.

His Majesty continued to smash everything in his path.

Retail investors kept placing sell orders, matching whatever price His Majesty set.

These people borrowed money to speculate on goods; they've long since run out of cash.

The delivery date is approaching, or has already expired, so selling it at a low price can still recoup some money.

If you don't sell, the subscription will expire in three days and you won't be able to renew it; the goods will even be confiscated by the exchange!

In an instant, there were sell orders everywhere, and the small traders couldn't possibly handle them all.

This caused panic to spread again, and retail investors continued to lower prices.

The prices of goods on the exchange have become even lower than before winter.

Even if the big traders who entered the market early sell their goods now, they will still lose money no matter how many they sell.

"Temporarily suspend the sale of military cloth."

His Majesty's confidants, who were infiltrated into the stock exchange, began preparing to withdraw.

From beginning to end, the imperial court never intended to make money.

Since there are so many low-priced sell orders, there's no need to use military warehouses anymore.

Of course, the imperial court will definitely profit in the end.

Many people who speculate on futures in large quantities cannot take all the goods even if they fill their houses with cloth.

Moreover, there are handling fees for picking up the goods, which is another large expense.

Unable to renew their contracts and lacking the funds to hire someone to move and pick up the goods, the fabric on the invoices had to be given away to the exchange for free.

"I sold it! I sold it!"

Zhao Shu cheered with joy, as if he had won a million strings of cash, even though it was a huge loss for him.

He said to Zhao Kai, "I'm going to the government to file a complaint against those bastards for tricking me into taking out a loan at exorbitant interest rates."

Zhao Kai was dumbfounded: "When did you mortgage the house to borrow money? And secretly buy so many invoices!"

Zhao Shu, embarrassed and speechless, took the money from selling the goods and ran to the Kaifeng Legal Office.

The Kaifeng Legal Affairs Office was packed with people, all there to report usurious loan sharks.

A clerk repeatedly shouted, "When you submit your petitions, they will be categorized according to the lender."

“If the same lender is involved in a case, it will be grouped into one case.”

“The rooms have been vacated, and the names of the lenders or business names are posted on the doors. Just find the name and hand it over.”

"If you can't find the lender's name, go to the second courtroom to file a complaint, and the judges will fill in the missing information immediately!"

Zhao Shu wandered around the various offices of the Legal Affairs Department and soon discovered the name of the bastard who had lent him money.

"I want to submit a petition!"

Zhao Shu shouted and rushed inside.

He rushed in but was immediately pushed out, and the crowd glared at him fiercely: "Stand in line!"

……

During the Northern Song Dynasty, there were 72 official restaurants in and around the city of Bianjing (Kaifeng).

These seventy-two official stores possessed the rights to brew, wholesale, and retail wine, rights which they obtained by purchasing them from the government.

If it is not a legitimate store, it can only retail alcoholic beverages and is not allowed to participate in brewing or wholesale.

The Jewish-run Iron Shavings House was one of the seventy-two main stores, and its location was in a prime area, only slightly inferior to Fanlou and Panlou.

This shows just how wealthy the Jewish people are!

They suffered losses during the dynastic change, and many of the loans made by the previous dynasty could not be recovered.

Even when Tokyo fell, it was looted by rioting soldiers and civilians, but it still managed to survive.

The recovery has been extremely rapid in recent years because the imperial court banned temples and monasteries.

In the past, it was mainly monks who lent money at exorbitant interest rates.

The imperial court's ban on temples and monasteries was tantamount to eliminating a competitor for the Jews, which made their usury business even more prosperous.

"Father, Father, it's terrible! The imperial court has sent troops!"

Li Yansheng ran and shouted wildly.

His family is the wealthiest Jewish family in Tokyo. To make business easier, his ancestors had long ago changed their surname and given names to Chinese.

By the time it came to Li Yansheng's generation, he could no longer speak Hebrew fluently.

However, he still recognizes Hebrew, can read the Jewish Bible, and does not marry outside the country.

In fact, Jewish people at the grassroots level have been intermarrying with Han Chinese for generations.

The Jewish population in Tokyo was too small in the early days, making it difficult for them to marry within the Jewish community. They could only marry poorer Han Chinese.

However, after intermarriage, most of their offspring still practice Judaism.

This was their Sabbath, and they were not supposed to conduct commercial activities, but the Iron Shavings Building continued to operate normally.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If there's money to be made, why wouldn't you take it?

In the backyard of the scrap metal building, a large group of Jews were gathering, reciting prayers and then discussing how to deal with the crisis.

Hearing his son's shouts, Li Lianghan sighed, "This is our day of disaster, but there is still room for change."

“We didn’t write the interest exceeding the limits stipulated in the Ming Code into the contract, so the court might be able to impose a lighter penalty.”

There are policies and measures to counter.

The imperial court set a maximum lending rate, but this could be circumvented in practice.

That is, the interest rate is written as lower in the contract, and within the legal scope stipulated by the imperial court, less money is paid when lending.

The contract states that you borrowed 100 yuan from me, but I will only give you 60 or 70 yuan.

Borrowers and lenders are mutually agreeable, making it difficult for the government to handle such situations.

But this time it's different.

Too many people borrowed money, all within the same time period, and they all lost everything.

Not only was the ironworks surrounded by officials, but the entire Jewish community was also brought under control.

Chapter 3352 The Jews of the Northern Song Dynasty

The customers who were drinking in the Iron Shavings Building were not scared away by the officials; instead, they excitedly followed to watch the excitement.

An official stepped into the backyard and shouted, "Arrest them all!"

Even ordinary Jews, if they have spare money, will lend it to Jewish merchants at low interest rates, and the Jewish merchants will then use the money to lend at high interest rates.

Li Lianghan stepped forward and bowed: "Sir, I have always operated in accordance with the law."

“All loans were in the form of contracts, and the interest rates did not exceed the limits set by the imperial court.”

The official sneered: "Do you want to reread the 'Great Ming Code' again?"

"Borrowing more than you give, the crime is compounded! This time, you have the most accusations, and the amount involved is huge. You will definitely be exiled and your property confiscated."

The official then glanced at the others: "None of you can escape either!"

"Those who can gather here are all rich people who are involved in loan sharking."

"Even if it doesn't amount to confiscation of your property and exile, a fine of three to ten times the amount will be enough to kill you!"

In fact, no fine is needed; simply voiding a loan contract can cause these people significant losses.

Faced with the knives, spears, and clubs in the hands of the officials, the thirty-odd Jews obediently followed orders and were dejectedly taken to the Kaifeng court for trial.

Jews were not the only ones lending money at exorbitant interest rates.

There were also other big businessmen from various industries who, instead of participating in speculation, took advantage of the futures market boom to borrow money at exorbitant interest rates.

I thought it was nothing serious and I certainly wouldn't offend His Majesty, but I never expected to be targeted like this.

Inside the prison cells, cries of injustice shook the heavens; they truly felt wronged.

Although dynasties throughout history have cracked down on usury, the imperial courts themselves did not take it seriously, and officials would never actually punish it.

Take the Northern Song Dynasty as an example. The Market Regulation Bureau, introduced by Wang Anshi's reforms, ultimately became a form of official usury.