"What? Miss Shao Lili, are you telling the truth? Do you really have a large quantity of grain?"
"Naturally. Since you all sell to the Royal Chamber of Commerce, and it's all within Yunyue City, there's no need for troublesome transport. Just present Shao family's promissory notes. I believe the Royal Chamber of Commerce should trust me, a merchant they've cooperated with for years."
In the restaurant, Shao Lili said with a confident and cold beauty.
The merchants below were excited. Shao Lili had always been a major player in trade with the Qi and Chen kingdoms, selling finished products and buying grain. Her selling grain would surely fetch a large amount of Yun Chao. Yun Chao was very convenient for trade, and the Royal Chamber of Commerce was determined to promote it, with no other means.
The road construction team had nine thousand people. Who knew how many people elsewhere had already started using Yun Chao? If they didn't keep up with the times, they would be left far behind by that Prime Minister.
"Alright, we have no problem. What about the price?"
Shao Lili raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly, "The price will increase slightly. How about fifty-five wen?"
"Tsk~ So be it, it's only five wen more."
After a moment of discussion, the merchants had no objections.
Soon, Shao Lili wrote out the promissory notes according to their respective needs and kept all the silver they had brought for purchasing goods this time.
Watching their retreating backs, Shao Lili murmured to herself, "Are they really too foolish? To exchange real gold and silver for paper? No, it's because Yun Chao has too many benefits and is too cost-effective!"
"However, in this way, future trade will not be decided by you merchants joining forces. Chu Chen is truly calculating! He exchanged a large amount of gold and silver for mere paper, and with that fellow's personality, he will definitely use this to profit."
"These merchants, seemingly making a profit, are actually being sold and counting money for Chu Chen. It's truly terrifying!"
Shao Lili's mind worked rapidly, and based on the existing intelligence, she quickly analyzed Chu Chen's methods.
Even though she had figured it out, she had no intention of informing those people. Firstly, it was unnecessary, as the Shao family was not suffering any losses. Secondly, it was the general trend, and it would be futile to say anything.
Soon, the merchants, holding their promissory notes, rushed to the banks, waving their notes and exchanging a large amount of Yun Chao for grain according to the quantity. They then used most of the Yun Chao to purchase goods, carrying the remaining small portion with them.
They planned to find the supply and marketing cooperatives in the Royal Chamber of Commerce's farms along the way and see if they could use Yun Chao to buy some local specialties. If they could, they would have made a huge profit.
At the same time, the Royal Chamber of Commerce, having acquired a large amount of Yun Chao, sent people with several carts of Yun Chao to return the bank's promissory notes. Then, they ordered their men to load the grain that originally belonged to them and the grain that originally belonged to the merchants, and transport it all to various parts of the country.
Most of it was to supplement the grain consumption of the road construction team, and a small portion was to supplement the imperial family in exchange for a large amount of sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn, which were then transported to the supply and marketing cooperatives of the farms.
A few days later, a special agency, the Eastern Depot and Western Depot, was preliminarily established in Shuangyue City, with a limited capacity. For the past three days, they had been collecting intelligence for the Empress in the city. Originally, the Western Depot was not used like this, but the Eastern Depot lacked personnel. Special agents were not ordinary people, and the current Eastern and Western Depots and Guards were all rookies commanded by eunuchs.
In the imperial palace, listening to Eunuch Wei's report, the Empress waved him away. Eunuch Wei, being astute, left.
This Eunuch Wei was the former superior of Xiao Huzhi. Now, with the establishment of the Depot and Guards, he had managed to join the Eastern Depot through his abilities and had become a fifth-rank Qianhu in the Eastern Depot, with his rank two levels higher than Chu Chen's promotion to sixth-rank.
"Why is this Chu Chen doing this? The original grain consumption was mainly from the imperial granary and the grain purchased from the Shao family from the Chen and Qi kingdoms."
"He's just moving things from one hand to the other. Isn't the amount of grain the same? The amount of silver hasn't increased either, it's just become more complicated and troublesome."
"Is the bank he mentioned really reliable?"
The Empress couldn't help but have a trace of doubt in her heart, but she quickly dismissed these concerns.
"Never mind. Based on past experience, no one can figure out Chu Chen's actions until the last moment. I'll just observe for a while longer."
"If it really comes to that, I'll have to deal with those corrupt officials in the court in advance!"
The Empress thought to herself. Anyway, the national infrastructure had already begun, and it had consumed so much money and grain. It would be too much of a loss to stop due to a lack of money and grain.
When there was truly no money or grain, the Empress only needed to transform into a tyrant.
However, another week later, just as the money and grain were about to run out, Chu Chen did not disappoint the Empress.
Seven days were enough for the merchant caravan to travel to at least two prefectures. News of Yun Chao had spread to the prefectures and counties of the four surrounding states that were close to Shuangyue Prefecture. The factory owners in all the prefectures and counties of Shuangyue Prefecture knew the benefits of Yun Chao and did not need Chu Chen or the Royal Chamber of Commerce to mention it. They all demanded to settle in Yun Chao.
It was a joke. Traveling merchants were often well-informed about domestic news, and the factory owners they traded with naturally received a lot of information.
One person was drawn from each household in all the Royal Chamber of Commerce's farms across the country. After a brief calculation, they were shocked to find that as many as seven million people were using Yun Chao!
Nearly one-third of the country's population! With such a number, even if nothing else was done, as long as the order did not collapse, Yun Chao had already possessed the value to replace gold and silver!
Moreover, Yun Chao was indeed very suitable for transactions: it was light, easy to make change, clearly denominated, and more convenient for accounting, etc.
As a large number of factory owners in Shuangyue Prefecture supplied goods to the Royal Chamber of Commerce and received a large amount of Yun Chao, the Royal Chamber of Commerce's reserves of Yun Chao were directly insufficient. They hurriedly ordered a large amount of gold and silver to be transferred to the bank to exchange for a large amount of Yun Chao, leaving only a very small portion of gold and silver.
With sufficient Yun Chao, the Royal Chamber of Commerce paid the factory owners for their goods. As they returned and distributed Yun Chao as wages, coupled with the fact that the Royal Chamber of Commerce and various merchants began to collect Yun Chao in the city.
Yun Chao, this thing, was completely revitalized and began to circulate in Shuangyue Prefecture. It could be foreseen that before long, Yun Chao would circulate to the Yunyue Kingdom, and even to surrounding countries!
And under such circumstances, the Royal Chamber of Commerce held ten million taels of silver, and the eight million taels of silver originally from the Empress's private treasury that had flowed back to the bank through various means, plus the three million taels carried by the merchants for purchasing goods.
The bank had a total of twenty-one million taels of silver. Then, under Chu Chen's instructions, the bank printed twenty-one million taels of Yun Chao. Together with the original equivalent circulation, a total of forty-two million taels of Yun Chao were circulating in the Yunyue Kingdom.