Chapter 8 third quarter

"Brother Li, Brother Lu, what gust of wind brought you here!" Zhou Yingfang looked at Li Wan and Lu Zhang standing in front of her in surprise, and laughed loudly. Li Wan and Lu Zhang looked at Zhou Yingfang, who had a rich face in front of him, and they looked at each other. Lu Zhang sighed slightly, and said, "I'm ashamed! We are here to ask my virtuous brother for help." Seeing the expressions of the two, Zhou Yingfang couldn't help laughing and said: "If there is a foolish brother who can help, the second brother can just tell me." She bowed again and said with a smile, "Please talk in the hall." Zhang please enter the main hall and explain the position of guest and host. Zhou Yingfang laughed first and said, "I heard that the second brother has been promoted again. I didn't have time to congratulate him. Unexpectedly, the second brother turned to respect first. It really killed the younger brother. Just now, brother Li said that he has something to order." , since the second brother is Jinlan's friend, he is also Ying Fang's elder brother, there is something useful, just send someone over to give instructions, and the younger brother will come to the house to listen to the teacher."

"Gao Sheng?" Li Wan shook her head without saying a word, just kept sneering.Lu Zhang smiled wryly at the side and said: "What's the use of being promoted? If you don't listen to your words, you can't follow your plan. The real gentleman just wants to accept advice." "Now that the prime minister is in power, why should the second brother worry about not being able to fulfill his ambitions?" Zhou Yingfang smiled and comforted, "It's just that Mr. Jun and Mr. Shi don't need it, and there are Mr. Jing and Mr. Shi..." Although the outside world mostly thinks that Li Wan and Lv Zhang was very popular in front of Sima Guang, but Zhou Yingfang knew that Sima Guang was useless to the two of them, so he was not surprised by their complaints.

"The two of us are going to be repeated villains, what are you talking about Jing Gong and Prime Minister Shi!" Li Wan sneered sharply, "The censor impeached both of us, saying that the two of us, Lu Xianggong, are in power, so he caters to Lu Xianggong; Mr. Jun is in power, and he caters to Mr. Jun, he is a villain with no morals. People like us, even if we can't punish the world, we should go far away..." Lu Zhang hurriedly interrupted Li Wan's complaints, looked at Zhou Yingfang, and said with a shy smile: "What's the point of the world's reputation? Brother Li and I are only looking for a way to show our ambitions. Mr. Jun really treats us on the surface. Acceptance is nothing more than hypocrisy and arrogance, and I don’t want to have the reputation of rejecting advice and rejecting talents. After Jinggong entered Beijing, he lost all vigor, and it is difficult for people in the world to get into his hall. Besides, Brother Li and I offended him in the article , the two of us are in front of his house, and we can't even hand in the door card."

Having said this, Zhou Yingfang had already heard the meaning behind the words, and said with a smile: "I heard that Mr. Shi is a big-hearted man." Lu Zhang sighed again, just smiled wryly, and said after a long while, "I'm not afraid of my virtuous brother's jokes, we have nowhere to go, originally we wanted to bite the bullet and try, but we suffer from the fact that there is no one to recommend, and we are afraid that someone will slander us." "Slander?" Zhou Yingfang asked in surprise. "It's Cai Jing!" Li Wan said bitterly from the side, "We went to see him before, and we were humiliated. Mr. Junshi refused to use our conspiracy, and I heard that it was because Cai Jing was instigating. Now he is the celebrity in front of Mr. Shi again..."

Zhou Yingfang knew the intention of the two of them at this time, and said with a smile: "So the second brother needs to find someone who can speak in front of Shi Xianggong with no less weight than Cai Jing..." "Brother Zhou once said that your residence has some connections with the Li family and the Chai family..." Lu Zhang said with a blushing face, confessing his reason for coming.The "big brother Zhou" in his mouth refers to Zhou Yingfang's elder brother Zhou Yi.This week, Zhou Yi was an important figure in West Lake College and one of the earliest founders of Shihuoshe. However, his academic interests suddenly changed drastically, and he devoted himself to studying Mozi, which was rarely known in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, Few people know of his relationship with the food agency.The Li family and the Chai family refer to the two families of Li Dunmin and Chai Guiyou—Lv Zhang and Li Wan made friends with Zhou Yi in the early years, became brothers with different surnames, and knew a secret of Zhou Yi—Zhou Yi was originally the "Thirteen Sons of Baishuitan" One of them, Shi Yue, Sang Chongguo and others who used to be teachers who were younger than themselves, also had a very deep relationship with brothers Li Dunmin and Chai Guiyou - Zhou Yi and Chai Guiyou were brothers-in-law, and Li Dunmin's sister married Chai Guiyou Lady's brother.

Lu Zhang and Li Wan didn't dare to write to disturb Zhou Yi because of these things, so they had the cheek to ask Zhou Yingfang for help. In fact, there is no need to say it out loud, Zhou Yingfang already knew what the two of them had in mind.However, although the Zhou family is related to the Chai family and the Li family and they often visit each year, Zhou Yingfang is quite self-aware in her heart. Li Dunmin, the Chai brothers, and Shi Yue are regarded as common friends. From outsiders' point of view, the three of them have been promoted all the way, and they are proud of their official careers. They also have an inexplicable relationship with Shi Yue's care and support.However, in terms of their relationship with Shi Yue, and their weight in the hearts of the ministers in the court, the Chai brothers are far less important than Li Dunmin - Sima Guang recommended Li Dunmin as the censor that day. In the end, he refused to accept it, but this matter has already been seen; and after Shi Yue paid homage to the prime minister, he promoted Li Dunmin as the prime minister of the Overseas Affairs Bureau of Honglu Temple. He was looked down upon in Bianjing official circles, but a businessman with Zhou Yingfang's background was more sensitive to Li Dunmin's position in Shi Yue's heart.In contrast, Chai Guiyou is still a local official—and he was transferred from the wealthy Huainan to Hebei, which is like moving to the left; and although Chai Guiyi returned to Bianjing, he only served as an official in Kaifeng Prefecture and failed to enter Ministry Temple.In terms of their relationship with Shi Yue, this is extremely abnormal-although Tang Di is now a magistrate in the Northwest, Tang Di was squeezed out by Lu Huiqing to become the governor of the state, and after Shi Yue paid homage to the prime minister, he immediately pursued him. In terms of his meritorious service in participating in presiding over Huguang's farming, except for the magistrate of Lingzhou who is also in charge of the farming affairs of Goulingxia states, he is even more incomparable than Chai Guiyou.

As for the relationship between the Zhou family and the Li and Chai families, although outsiders don't know about it, Zhou Yingfang knows very well in her heart that the Zhou family is the closest and has the best relationship with Chai Guiyou's family; followed by Chai Guiyi's family; It was just a relationship.Li Dunmin had been an official in other places before. Although his personality was approachable, he was rare in the "Stone Party". This may be the reason why Sima Guang was willing to recommend him.Normally, gifts sent by Zhou Yingfang, as long as they were a little heavier, would be returned.This time Li Dunmin was in charge of the Overseas Affairs Bureau, Zhou Yingfang sharpened his head and wanted to build a good relationship with Li Dunmin - he personally waited for Li Dunmin's official ship back to Beijing at the ferry yesterday, but Li Dunmin only sent an old servant to explain Thank you, and went straight to the post house.

Lu Zhang and Li Wan only knew that Li Dunmin, the Chai brothers and Shi Yue were friends of commoners, that the Zhou family was related to the Li and Chai families, and only saw that Li Dunmin and Chai Guiyi had been promoted one after another. How could they know so much inside information? But Zhou Yingfang didn't want to reject them either.Lu Zhang and Li Wan had served in Taifu Temple, and after being "reused" by Sima Guang, they were promoted to be the head of the Jin Department and the head of the Cang Department respectively, and they were also officials of the Ministry of Individuals and Households.If Zhou Yingfang wanted to compete with the Tang family for the dominance of the Governor's Bureau of the Qianzhuang Headquarters, it would be inevitable to use every resource related to the government as much as possible.After all, in this respect, Zhou Yingfang had inherent disadvantages. In the face of powerful competitors, besides making use of his own advantages, it was also necessary to minimize the disadvantages as much as possible.

Therefore, even though Lu Zhang spoke hesitantly, Zhou Yingfang accepted it straight away, and said with a smile: "Second brother, I have already taken care of it. But second brother must let Yuyu make some arrangements..." Lu Zhang couldn't help being overjoyed seeing him being so straightforward, and even Li Wan, who had always been cynical, also showed joy at this moment.Seeing Lu Zhang hurriedly clasped his fists in thanks and said, "Thank you so much, my brother. If the two of us can really be useful in the future, I will never forget my virtue today." "Brother Lu is out of touch by saying that." Zhou Yingfang laughed, "I'm not doing it for him, but because I admire my second brother's knowledge. If my second brother can show off what I have learned, it will be a blessing for the country, and my younger brother will also be honored." Yan. From a personal point of view, if the second brother can restore the credit of handing over banknotes, not only the younger brother, but even all the bankers in the Song Dynasty will build a shrine for the second brother."

What he said was very useful to Lu Zhang and Li Wan. Although the two were humbly and humbly, their complacency was unavoidable.Lu Zhang smiled and said: "In my opinion, my virtuous brother is able to advocate the establishment of the head office of the bank. This kind of insight and talent is rare in the world. Why is my virtuous brother unwilling to serve the court?" Zhou Yingfang sighed feignedly, "Brother Lu doesn't know something, but my younger brother failed the examination of Gongsheng, so he is destined not to be an official." Lu Zhang was melancholy at what he said, and was about to say something to comfort him, but when he looked up, he realized that Zhou Yingfang was joking, so he laughed again and said: "However, if the head office of the Song Dynasty Bank really succeeds, give me a I will not change the minister of the temple."

"That's true." Lu Zhang laughed, "Sangchong Kingdom is known as the white-clothed censor. If the head office of the bank is successful, the virtuous brother can be called a 'white-clothed plan'. But..." "But what?" Zhou Yingfang suddenly heard this turning point, her heart tightened, but she asked as if nothing had happened. "We've heard some bad rumors." Li Wan took over the conversation and said, "Zhang Tianjue is planning to reform the Money Delivery Bureau. Some people say that he got the instruction of Prime Minister Shi. I don't think this can be faked. Zhang Tianjue is Shi My husband's confidant..." Since the two of them had Zhou Yingfang's promise, and they had always been self-appointed and seldom received favors from others, they inevitably wanted to reciprocate, and rushed to reveal the news to him. "Reform the Money Delivery Bureau?" Zhou Yingfang was stunned. Lu Zhang nodded, and said in a low voice: "No one knows the specific situation. Some people say that Prime Minister Shi wants to collect taxes from the bank; some people say that it is some kind of reserve fund..." "Taxes? Reserves?" Zhou Yingfang tried to be calm on her face, but her heart was already flustered. "It should be called a deposit reserve." Li Wan added uncertainly, "Brother Lu and I have discussed it many times, but we still don't understand what it is. If others, we would think that it is a trick to collect miscellaneous taxes, but Since it was proposed by Shi Xiang, I'm afraid it won't be that simple... However, brother Lu and I both have a bad feeling, I'm afraid that the reform of the banknote delivery bureau will be inseparable from the head office of the Great Song Bank. related." "How...how is this possible?" Zhou Yingfang laughed dryly, a little in disbelief.Although the head office of the Dasong Bank could no longer keep it secret because it wanted to elect the governor of the bureau, and it quickly became a major event in the streets and alleys of Bianjing in a day or two, but Shi Yue was not a god, and the head office of the bank had not even been formally established, so how could it be so soon? Will there be measures against the head office of the bank? "This is just me and Brother Li conjecturing in private." Lu Zhang said with a smile, "Maybe it's because we're too overpowered." But Li Wan said coldly: "What if the Tang family went to try to please? Anyway, when I heard the name, I felt there was a mystery in it." "The Tang family? This..." Zhou Yingfang was skeptical and didn't know why. Although he didn't know what the "deposit reserve" was, he also intuitively felt that there was a relationship between this thing and his Dasong bank head office. , must be inextricably linked. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He was waiting to inquire about some news, but he saw the housekeeper hurried in, handed over a name card, and said: "Member, the young member of the Cao family is here." Zhou Yingfang glanced at the pearl clock in the living room, and then remembered that he had asked Cao Youwen to talk about something, and hurriedly ordered: "You first invite Cao Yuanwai to sit in the flower hall." "Yes." The butler agreed and was about to step back.Lu Zhang was on the side, but he was careful, his heart moved, and he hurriedly called out "slow", the housekeeper hesitated, and then he heard Lu Zhang laughing at Zhou Yingfang: "This young member of the Cao family spends a lot of money in Jieshen Lane. Uncle Cao Yun?" "Exactly." Zhou Yingfang smiled, "Brother Lu also knows him." "He is a famous person in Bianjing now, how could I not know." Lu Zhang asked tentatively with a smile, "Are Uncle Cao Yun and Brother Xian also old acquaintances?" "That's not true." Zhou Yingfang shook his head and smiled, "He came to me because of his business in Jieshen Lane—Brother Lu and Brother Li, people really don't like it nowadays, and the business in Jieshen Lane used to be Physical delivery, but these days, there are some people who always want to get rich overnight, and some people think that handing in money will definitely be abolished, so they use handing in money to buy things recklessly in Jieshen Lane..." He spoke so inconsistently that Lu Zhang and Li Wan were both at a loss. Seeing their expressions, Zhou Yingfang hurriedly explained with a smile: "The toothmen in Jieshen Lane used to trade, and they usually have goods. The buyer who pays usually only looks at the property certificate, pays the deposit, and signs the contract. Just in case someone wants to break the contract, they can use these to compensate the seller. Moreover, Jieshenxiang used to There is also a custom for the convenience of large transactions. After the two parties have completed the transaction in Jieshen Lane, they can cash in the delivery of the goods a few days later. This is also convenient for the bulk buyer to sometimes have time to raise money. Among them is the tooth man of Jieshen Lane As a guarantee for both parties, the shortest is three to five days, and the longest is half a month or a month. It is all discussed by the people of both parties, and there has never been any mistake in the past decades. A businessman pays attention to a "trustworthy" "Word, how can anyone destroy their reputation? A treacherous businessman, not to mention that he will not be able to enter Jieshen Lane in the future, even his peers will look down on him and are unwilling to deal with him-but now the world is declining, and some people This loophole was exploited in every possible way to make a profit. This time, there were quite a few people who, with their wealth and lives, gambled that the banknotes would be abolished within a month. These people used the banknotes to buy goods like crazy in Jieshen Lane. As a result, the price of banknotes plummeted all the way in Jieshen Lane, and it became waste paper within a few days. Some people bought and sold during the ups and downs to earn the difference. In fact, they had nothing in their hands. There are some teeth in Jieshen Lane People deliberately turned a blind eye for that stupid thing. These people did make a lot of money a few days ago, but this time, a few people fell into the hands of this young member of the Cao family..." When Zhou Yingfang said this, she gloated and said with a gloating smile: "The usual practice in Jieshen Lane is five days at the latest for the delivery of gold trading. Those people did not expect that within these five days, although the payment of money has ups and downs, on the whole it is It didn't fall but rose, and this time Uncle Cao Yun entered the market at the time when handing in banknotes was regarded as waste paper. Although his wrist was not sophisticated enough, the timing was too good, and the handing over of banknotes involved was tens of millions. There are actually four or five people fighting in the ring. As far as I know, at least three of them have lost their fortunes because the bank found out that their debts were higher than their assets and refused to lend them any more money. Uncle Cao Yun came to see my brother for this purpose. The mortgage in Jieshen Lane has always been in my account. Two of the three have repaid the tens of thousands of banknotes that have been loaned to my account. It's still worthless, but according to the bank laws of the Song Dynasty, the bank and their debts come first, and they have the right to recover the debts first. They must first pay back the money from my account before paying back Uncle Cao Yun's money, but these three people He owes money to several banks, and if he really followed the bank regulations, he might not be able to get a single penny... He came to see my brother this time for the purpose of tearing people into captivity." "I thought Uncle Cao Yun made tens of millions of pennies this time." Lu Zhang said with a smile, "So it's not that much." "I don't know whether he was lucky or bad luck." Zhou Yingfang said lightly, "When Uncle Cao Yun entered the arena, many famous people in Jieshen Lane had already stopped or were still waiting. He didn't meet the real one. Opponents, as far as I know, there are still many people who are pessimistic about the prospect of handing over banknotes... However, if it really comes to that point, those of us who run banks are doomed, so we have no choice." "Brother, you don't need to be unfounded." Li Wan curled her lips and said proudly. Lu Zhang also smiled confidently: "As long as Prime Minister Shi can use our strategy, he will be able to turn the tide." After that, he said, "It's not convenient for you, my brother, to ask You Cao to wait for a long time. I really want to meet him, but I don't know if it's convenient..." "It's very inconvenient." Zhou Yingfang couldn't help laughing, "I heard that Uncle Cao Yun and Mr. Chen Zirou in Shi Xianggong's mansion are close friends. Maybe this is a godsend." Zhou Yingfang pointed out Lu Zhang's thoughts, and his face blushed again.He peeked at Zhou Yingfang, but saw that what he said seemed to be unintentional, but he let out a sigh of relief in his heart. "I don't know that Zhou Yuanwai has a distinguished guest today, so I'm so presumptuous. So, I'd better come to visit another day." Cao Youwen and Wang Liuzhang couldn't help being stunned when they saw Li Wan and Lu Zhang who came out to greet him with Zhou Yingfang . "It's because I've been negligent. I need to ask Yuanwai Cao to forgive me." Zhou Yingfang clasped her fists and said with a smile, while carefully looking at the well-known young member of the Cao family, she saw that Cao Youwen had a dark complexion, not very tall, and an ordinary appearance. I just feel that it is quite different from the Cao Youwen I imagined.On the one hand, he did not forget to introduce: "These two..." "Master Li, Master Lu!" Cao Youwen bowed before he was introduced, greeted him, and said, "Master Li and Master Lu were debating at Baishuitan a few days ago, and I happened to be there too. My lords I have seen people before, and I respect them very much.” "How dare, how dare." Lu Zhang and Li Wan said insincerely humble, but they couldn't help but feel a little fond of Cao Youwen in their hearts. But Zhou Yingfang smiled and said: "Since that's the case, that's even better. I don't want to hide from Yuanwai Cao, but Master Li and Master Lu heard that Yuanwai is coming, so they stayed here on purpose, and wanted to see Yuanwai Cao." "Zhou Yuanwai was just joking. How can I have any virtue or ability? How could the two adults know mere things." Lu Zhang laughed and said, "I'm afraid that even a few of your husbands know what Cao Yuanwai did in Jieshen Lane. How could we not know? If no Yuanwai goes out to do something, we don't know what the situation will be like handing over the banknotes." "This is the work of greed..." Before Cao You finished speaking, Zhou Yingfang interrupted him, and said with a smile: "Everyone, even if we hit it off, there is no reason to stand at the door and talk. Doesn't this make people laugh at me?" Does this master not understand etiquette? This must be Mr. Wang, I have admired him for a long time. Come, Mr. Cao invited me, Mr. Wang invited..." He smiled and invited everyone into the hall. After talking about the host and guest seats, Zhou Yingfang smiled at Cao Youwen again and said, "The next time I invited Mr. Cao out this time, it was actually for the sake of Jieshen Lane..." When he saw that Cao Youwen was looking at Li Wan and Lu Zhang, He laughed again, "Don't worry Cao Yuanwai, Master Li and Master Lu are comparable to ordinary Confucian scholars, and you don't mind listening to us talking about these things." Cao Youwen and Wang Liuzhang couldn't help but looked at each other and smiled, knowing that he had misunderstood, he didn't explain, followed Zhou Yingfang's words, and said with a smile: "My servant said that Mr. Zhou is willing to talk about the debts of those two families..." "I invite people to come here for this purpose." Zhou Yingfang paid attention to Cao Youwen, and said with a smile, "I always thought that when we do business, we should always talk about harmony and make money, and we should not take it too far. In terms of reason, if this matter is called You can't get a penny from outsiders, that's not the reason for doing business..." Cao Youwen didn't believe a word of what Zhou Yingfang said.Even the Bodhisattva in the temple, it may not be his turn to save all living beings, Cao Youwen, let alone Zhou Yingfang, who is neither stupid nor stupid, why don't you have to give him money for no reason?He came to see Zhou Yingfang, but he had his own plan, but by the way, he also came to see what kind of medicine Zhou Yingfang sold in his gourd.It's just that he didn't expect that during the meeting with Zhou Yingfang, two unexpected guests came unexpectedly, and they were both officials of the imperial court. Such a situation appeared in Bianjing, although it could not be regarded as rude, but it more or less revealed Zhou Yingfang's contempt for him.However, Cao Youwen has already experienced this helpless reality too many times.He still gets angry in his heart, but he doesn't let his emotions dictate his actions.An outstanding maritime merchant should cherish the preciousness of profits more than ordinary people.Because their whole life is exchanging their lives for profit. Cao Youwen has known for a long time that although they are all merchants, most of the big local merchants look down on maritime merchants.Because every time a sea merchant goes to sea, they risk their lives to make money-this is something that most wealthy businessmen are unwilling to do, let alone ordinary people-in the eyes of local businessmen, those who really go to sea for trade , are some poor and run-down children, rogue hooligans who fantasize about getting rich overnight.Therefore, even though a family like the Tang family has to deal with sea merchants all year round, when it comes to sea trade, it still only occupies a negligible share.You must know that the sea trade is not just for the owner to sit in the country and buy a ship to recruit people. If the owner or the owner's family does not have capable people who often go to sea in person, it is not a surprise that the captain and sailors will ruin their fortune.Men who make their living at sea, even serious sailors, have a greater disdain for the laws of morality than the common man.Moreover, the maritime merchants have to deal with inferior barbarians. In addition to the storms and waves at sea, they also have to face many diseases that make people discolored... Therefore, especially in the minds of northern Song people, most people I believe that the sons and daughters of a really good family will not be willing to do this kind of business.Local businessmen, on the one hand, of course like the profits brought by maritime merchants and envy them for their wealth; on the other hand, they also look down on them and despise them psychologically.This kind of mentality is the same as that officials in Bianjing look down on overseas officials. As Zhou Yingfang, Cao Youwen didn't even know that the other party was despising him on purpose, or it was just a natural behavior - maybe in Zhou Yingfang's heart, he didn't think that he was deliberately neglecting Cao Youwen at all!And this kind of mentality is the most helpless. However, this contempt for etiquette is nothing at all.What really bothered Cao Youwen was the presence of Lv and Li, which made him undecided whether he should openly and honestly mention his plan to Zhou Yingfang. At this time, Cao Youwen had no choice but to hold back his temper, pretending to be very interested in the debt, and perfunctory with Zhou Yingfang-although the two debts appear to be huge in amount, if they come to Kaifeng Mansion because of this, let alone Speaking of the extremely low odds of winning, just think about the enmity with the bank guild in Bianjing, and Cao Youwen would not do such a thing that is not worth the loss. He patiently listened to Zhou Yingfang talking about the debt division with him in circles, pretending to be friendly and talking about what he saw and heard when he was studying in Hangzhou, expressing his understanding and closeness to maritime merchants, and saying that both sides are From a scholar to a businessman, he talked about all kinds of anecdotes between West Lake College and Baishuitan, and calmly narrowed the distance between him and himself, and then expressed his injustice for Cao Youwen's experience in this matter, while He also complained euphemistically about the difficulties and grievances of running the bank, interspersed with Li Wan and Lu Zhang discussing the pros and cons of the bank law. Zhou Yingfang seems to be very good at narrowing the distance between him and others.Although Cao Youwen knew in his heart that he must have a purpose in doing this, he couldn't help but feel that Zhou Yingfang was indeed a frank and kind person, and their similar backgrounds of abandoning Confucianism and going into business really made them compare. The common language of others is more, the two people encounter troubles, troubles and even happiness in many places, and they are so similar. Cao Youwen, from the beginning of vigilance, repulsion, and impatience, unconsciously becomes relaxed, close, and even I like talking with Zhou Yingfang a little bit. At this moment, Zhou Yingfang changed the topic and brought the topic back to his main topic without showing any trace.From the standpoint of a friend, he hinted to Cao Youwen that he was willing to mediate this matter for Cao Youwen, negotiate with all the banks involved in this debt dispute, and strive for a 10% to 20% concession for Cao Youwen.Of course, he also wants to ask Cao Youwen for help, that is, he hopes that Cao Youwen can save the security deposit confiscated by Jieshenxiang in Fugui Bank for two more months, and sincerely hopes that Cao Youwen can deposit another 100,000 in Fugui Bank He is willing to provide the highest amount of interest for any money, and only two months is enough time. However, at least in words, Zhou Yingfang did not connect these two matters, he did not describe these two matters as a transaction.In order to show his sincerity, Zhou Yingfang also took the initiative to reveal to Cao Youwen that he wanted to raise a large amount of hard currency in the short term in order to compete with the Tang family for the leadership of the Governor's Bureau of the Song Dynasty Bank Headquarters to be established.Naturally, as smart as Cao Youwen, he would think of it without reminding him. If he could help Zhou Yingfang fulfill his wish, it would be self-evident for the benefits to their Cao family's future business.From Zhou Yingfang's inadvertent expression, one could tell that this should be a suggestion that Cao Youwen couldn't refuse. However, Zhou Yingfang was not as confident as before. In just one or two days, almost all businessmen in Bianjing knew about the head office of the Dasong Bank, and the competition for the 19 seats in the Governor's Bureau was almost fierce.On the stage, off the stage, all kinds of transaction rumors came out one after another. With the power of the Zhou family and the Tang family, it is certainly not difficult to get a seat, but to occupy the dominance of the Governor Bureau, it is equivalent to winning the support of nine governors—this is something that neither the Zhou family nor the Tang family have. Absolutely sure.In order to gain the upper hand, the Zhou family and the Tang family have to pay more emergency funds than other families on the one hand, and on the other hand, they must also try their best to help as many banks with good relations with them enter the governor's office-after all, to fight for The support of the independent governor and the seat of the small bank may be more complicated and subtle. Before that, the competition for the remaining eight seats of the big bank has become something that the Zhou family and the Tang family can really grasp. Today's Zhou Yingfang lacks gold, silver and copper coins the most.Compared with the Tang family, it was easier for Zhou Yingfang to win the support of small banks; but in terms of big banks, the Zhou family was slightly inferior to the Tang family.Zhou Yingfang must use all means to gain all support, and every seat she wins in a big bank is a victory. In Zhou Yingfang's mind, Cao Youwen was not that important, and his knowledge of the details of the Cao family was still limited, but Zhou Yingfang's principle of doing things was not to give up any small help easily, and a little can make a lot.But even so, Cao Youwen might not necessarily vote for him.It's true that all maritime merchants, even within the Eighteen Families, will have more or less complaints and dissatisfaction with the Tang family, but this just means that the Tang family has a huge influence.These people will curse Tang Gannan's eighteenth generation ancestors behind their backs, but they will be more well-behaved than Persian cats in front of them.Not to mention offending the Tang family. He had known in advance that the Cao family was relatively distant from the Tang family in the sea merchants. But alienation and confrontation are two different things. However, if Cao Youwen refused to accept his offer in the end, it would be just a small setback for Zhou Yingfang, and he would not take it too seriously.Therefore, he could still look at Cao Youwen calmly, waiting for the other party's reply. Cao Youwen's answer surprised Zhou Yingfang.Even Li Wan and Lu Zhang opened their mouths.