Chapter 2740: The Capital (Part 96)

The capital's most exquisite cuisine was never found in restaurants. Beyond the imperial kitchens and the private chefs of officials and nobles, the finest banquets were hosted in the pleasure quarters.

In a hall of the capital's most renowned pleasure house, crimson candles burned tall while Xiang silk curtains hung low. Outside, the wind cut with bitter cold; inside, four white copper braziers blazed, warming the room to springtime comfort. Three eight-immortals tables had been arranged, each bearing eight tiered displays of candied dried fruits adorned with auspicious phrases—fortune, prosperity, longevity, happiness. At the center stood a foot-high sugar sculpture of the Lion Immortal. Against the walls, large porcelain plates held towering pyramids of Buddha's-hand citrons from the south. More than ten pots of Zhangzhou narcissus bloomed fragrant, their scent mingling with the refined, elegant atmosphere.

Today marked the capital banking guild's inaugural New Year banquet. The guild's fifteen establishments, large and small alike, would gather here to feast and discuss the coming year's business.

It was just past noon, and only the "major peers" had assembled for deliberations. According to the guild's unwritten rules, the "minor peers" would not arrive until nightfall. Matters of importance were decided by the major peers in the afternoon; come evening, the minor peers would simply be informed. Their interests, naturally, went unconsidered—a source of endless frustration, yet they remained powerless to change it.

The major peers were uniformly Shanxi Houses. In those days, Shanxi Houses had not yet evolved into the purely commercial financial institutions that later banks would become. Rather, they were hybrid enterprises of trade and finance, with fingers in every conceivable venture. As the name suggested, Shanxi Houses were establishments run by Shanxi merchants in the capital. They dealt primarily in "Shanxi goods" and "Mongol goods"—common agricultural products and daily necessities, as well as government-monopolized or controlled commodities like salt, tea, and horses. Money exchange had originally been merely a sideline to these core businesses.

However, the Shanxi merchants had long recognized the enormous profits to be made in money exchange, deposits, and lending. Given their massive operating capital and the need for high liquidity, they required sophisticated financial infrastructure. Thus the Shanxi Houses had gradually, without any formal training, developed a financial business of their own—which eventually became their primary operation.

Today's most pressing agenda item was, naturally, how to deal with Delong and its aftermath.

The capital banking guild's chairman bore the surname Cao. Though Shanxi merchants were famous throughout the realm, in the money trade, their financiers, managers, and clerks almost universally hailed from a dozen or so counties in central Shanxi. Chairman Cao was no exception—a native of Taigu. He had started as a bank clerk, worked in the capital for over thirty years, and risen through the ranks to the position of manager.

Though merely a manager in title, his power was immense—practically half an owner within his bank. He controlled operations, personnel, and finances, answering only to the proprietor himself. The compensation was generous, and he held dry shares that entitled him to dividends. A white-collar position in every sense.

But the owner demanded high returns. After three years, when accounts were settled, if profits satisfied the proprietor, a single dividend could yield what ordinary men earned in several lifetimes. If profits proved poor or losses mounted, however, no one would hire him again.

Thus anyone who had reached the position of manager and maintained it for decades was an old fox indeed. And whoever served as guild chairman was a fox spirit cultivated to absolute perfection.

Manager Cao's Shanxi House was simply called "Chang's"—characteristic of these establishments, which eschewed fancy names in favor of the owner's surname alone. Among the eight major Shanxi shops in the capital, it ranked only fifth or sixth. This was by design—a careful balance to prevent any single house from growing dominant. The chairman was therefore never drawn from the top three houses.

The Shanxi Houses had operated in the capital for over a century, making them consummate local serpents. When Delong first arrived, though it possessed connections and considerable face, establishing itself required considerable effort. During that period, the Houses had jointly tripped up Delong at every turn, stopping short of outright force only because Delong enjoyed palace connections.

Later, once Delong grew strong through wire transfers and Zishi Fine Products, circumstances no longer permitted such backstabbing. The Houses began maintaining courteous relations with Delong. Yet despite Delong's growth, it remained far inferior to the combined strength and deposit scale commanded by the Shanxi Houses. Strictly speaking, Delong was still a "minor peer."

Originally, Leng Ningyun had harbored no intention of challenging the capital's financial order or escalating conflict. But once he wielded wire transfers as his secret weapon, the long-distance remittance business—especially the lucrative Jiangnan and Guangdong routes—effectively excluded the Shanxi Houses. Moreover, with telegraph communications at his disposal, Delong possessed real-time knowledge of money supply conditions everywhere, could dispatch funds with fluid precision, and consistently earned generous profits. This made the Shanxi House peers burn with both envy and resentment.

When the Kun invaded and Guangdong fell, the Shanxi Houses celebrated for a time, believing Delong would soon perish. To their astonishment, Delong quietly weathered the storm. The forces behind it truly astounded the merchants. And so matters had remained calm during this period.

Before year's end, word that Leng Ningyun had been kidnapped by bandits set the Shanxi House managers celebrating once more. In times like these, being kidnapped meant that even survival would leave Delong severely damaged. The very day they received the news, several managers conspired to spread rumors and orchestrate a bank run, intending to bring down Delong in a single stroke.

What followed, however, proved dizzying. Not only was Delong sealed by imperial order to prevent collapse from a run, but before the New Year, Leng Ningyun miraculously returned.

"Whether Leng Ningyun returns is immaterial. Delong has been badly wounded—they're probably just preparing to close up shop." Qiao Wannian, the leading manager of Qiao's, said with a smile while sniffing Western snuff.

"Manager Qiao, you're truly out of touch!" Manager Qin Shengyu of He's sneered. "Word from Shuntian Prefecture says that Lord Zhong will unseal Delong the moment he returns to office on the fourth. If they intended to close, why seek the unsealing? Unsealing means they're reopening!"

"Not necessarily reopening." Manager Yuan of Shen's was the youngest among the eight managers, only in his early forties. "Without unsealing, he cannot access the silver or ledgers in the vault. One cannot simply walk away empty-handed. The bank holds at least tens of thousands of taels."

"My dear Yuan, you really are a naive commoner." Manager Shen of Xia's lounged on a Xiang-concubine daybed, openly smoking his pipe, and sneered. "This Leng Ningyun is no upstanding man—he's probably one of the Kun himself. If he means to flee, what does an imperial seal matter to him? Just waste paper."

"If it's merely waste paper to him, then why petition the Prefect for unsealing? He could simply run."

Manager Shen was momentarily stunned, his expression turning embarrassed. "Just some final, desperate struggle."

Manager Shen was the most adamant among the Shanxi House managers that Delong was finished and Leng Ningyun would flee. Everyone understood that his eagerness to disparage Delong probably stemmed from Xia's being deeply implicated in this affair.

Though every manager thoroughly disliked Delong and hoped this Kun-connected aberration would vanish from the capital soon, their years navigating the capital's complex environment had taught them not to voice opinions too readily.

"I believe Delong will definitely reopen." Manager Cao said. "Yesterday, Wu Kaidi visited all six minor peers—likely seeking short-term loans to prepare for emergency withdrawals when they reopen."

"How dare they!" Manager Shen's eyes went round. "These barbarians have no intention of continuing to eat from this bowl of rice in the capital!"

"Whether they dare is beside the point." Manager Qin looked disdainful. "These houses each possess only thirty or forty thousand taels in capital—the largest barely sixty thousand. How much can they scrape together for Delong? Let us proceed with our original plan: the moment Delong dares to open, we crush them in a single blow!"

"Crushing Delong is simple enough, but who cleans up the aftermath?" Liu Shuheng, the chief manager of Wang's, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. Wang's was the largest Shanxi House, commanding the strongest resources. Reportedly, its available funds exceeded one million, backed by capital of thirty to forty thousand.

"The notes Delong has in circulation probably total at least two hundred thousand." Manager Yuan calculated. "They have perhaps a hundred thousand in reserves at most. Once we run on them, they will certainly collapse. And after their collapse, the capital's market will turn very ugly."

"So what if they collapse? Just a few more people jumping into wells and hanging themselves from rafters." Manager Shen dismissed the concern with a wave.

"But we ourselves will not escape unscathed." Manager Yuan replied. "Circumstances have changed. Before, their notes were few and our dealings with them limited. These past few years, our dealings have surged. Which among us does not hold Delong notes? When Delong collapses, will those notes not become waste paper?"

Manager Shen sneered. "Look at you—hesitating over a mere few thousand taels. Can one conduct grand business while fretting over such trifles? Once Delong is gone, will not all their depositors become ours?"

Manager Yuan's voice turned cold. "Manager Shen! Our small shop operates on limited resources, unlike your wealthy Xia family! A net loss of several thousand taels—can that truly be brushed aside with talk of 'grand business' when accounts are settled?"

His words raised waves a thousand feet high, for each house held considerable Delong notes—some exceeding ten thousand taels, the smallest still amounting to several thousand.

"If these Delong notes could be fully redeemed before they collapse, all would be well. If not, there will be no way to explain it to our proprietors!"

"How do we manage to redeem our notes and crush Delong at the same time?"

...

The managers fell to whispered consultations. Save for Manager Qin, the discussion betrayed little enthusiasm for the proposed bank run.

Manager Shen grew anxious. How had the wind shifted so suddenly? Watching the managers still putting on their careful airs, he sneered: "Gentlemen, cease this pretense! Who among us does not know that after Leng Ningyun was kidnapped last month, each of you bought up Delong notes at twenty or thirty percent of face value, preparing for the run. Now that Delong is about to reopen, you've all gotten cold feet?"

"Manager Shen, please calm yourself." Manager Cao spoke up to smooth the tensions. "We naturally cannot tolerate Delong Bank. But as for how specifically to proceed, everyone should discuss the matter first."

(End of Chapter)