Wanli Xinming

Chapter 349 Loans
The imperial court didn't know about Ma Dong's glorious victory in Tangnu Wulianghai. To be honest, Zhu Yijun didn't care much.In his view, even if the 500 men led by Ma Dong were wiped out in the process of marching westward and northward, it would not affect the overall situation.Yes, today's Ming Dynasty, its national strength can withstand such failures dozens or even hundreds of times.As for the Oirats, as long as they fail once, they will fall into the bottomless abyss like they are now, and eventually there will be no trace in the history of human civilization.

As primary industrialization took root in the Ming Dynasty, the most majestic energy in the history of human development was gradually bursting out of the tens of millions of square kilometers of land.

The huge capital accumulated by the former clans, nobles, big landowners-even smugglers has been invested in new industries.The capital, which could only be used to purchase land and intensify the intensity of land mergers, has embarked on an infinite cycle of pursuing profits, expanding production, and continuing to pursue profits. They will trickle down to the lake and sea, and gradually evolve into a surging torrent.

This torrent washed up the turbid foam, eroded the order of the agricultural society for thousands of years, distorted and shattered all the shackles in front of it, and in the center of the world, the first thunder of human civilization was about to rush forward.

Of course, because of the emperor's precautions, the "royal economy", dominated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, still controls the largest capital -- and technology.Zhu Yijun can also judge that this first noise is unconscious, it is just driven by the instinct to pursue profit, it handed out its claws to the emperor and the court he represents. Those who do this do not know that they represent capital. ——But Zhu Yijun clearly saw the essence of it.

In August of the 13th year of Wanli, when Ma Dong led the army to intimidate the various ministries and attack Oirat, Wang Guoguang played on it. After four months of investigation, it has been found out that the bank notes in Suzhou, Taicang, Fuzhou, Linqing and other places have been out of the bank. The reason for the immediate return.

Underground bank, large bills!Seeing these two words, Zhu Yijun took a deep breath.Out of a cautious attitude towards the development of the financial industry, the essence of Zhengshitang's issuance of small-amount silver bills in various places is to increase the amount of money. That is to say, the imperial court had no coinage profit when minting Longyang, but had to pay for the cost of fire, only to establish a small amount of excess issuance after establishing credit, so as to recover the coinage cost and solve the market's "money shortage" worries.

This situation was immediately discovered by people with a heart. Before that, Wang Guoguang received a report that some people used a large amount of cash receipts at a premium in some cities, and used the policy of the equivalent of silver bills and silver dollars to exchange a large amount of dragon dollars in state-owned banks-the court paid the bill. Fire consumption has become their first profit.

Immediately, these people will receive silver dollar loans in their hands to supply small and medium-sized enterprises in these economically developed cities to expand their operations.The investigation team under the leadership of the Du branch found that the "banks" that lend money will carefully examine the growth of these loan companies, and charge land and real estate mortgages that far exceed the loan amount to earn interest.This is the second profit.

What's more, these people did not directly release silver dollars when lending money, but large-value bills issued by banks, with a minimum amount of 200 taels.This hand is mainly to limit the scope of circulation of these bills - this thing only circulates in the business world.

The merchants holding these large bills can go to the bank that issued the loan to exchange the bill for the equivalent silver dollar, which is exactly the same as the bank of the imperial court.At the same time, these banks have figured out the principle of over-issue of money, that is to say, they have already over-issued money before the court.As long as there is no run on the money, these banks can easily obtain capital several times that of the stored gold and use it to generate profits. This is the third profit.

At the beginning of the 12th year of Wanli, due to the impact of the primary industry on the handicraft industry, there were successive civil uprisings in Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places. In April, there was even an uprising in the Fucheng of Zhangzhou, which led to the occupation of the Fucheng by the uprisings.In order to alleviate the imminent crisis, the imperial court adopted a series of measures at the speed of light-the establishment of banks and the release of currency to the market were an important part of it.

Because the imperial court had prepared for this event for a long time, banks spread all over the country in a short period of time, and a large amount of money was put into the market, which not only eased deflation, but also accelerated market circulation, thereby promoting production expansion and improving the employment market. The stimulus is immediate.

However, within a year of investing in Long Yuan and small bank notes, a "shadow bank" appeared. While Zhu Yijun was stunned, he also secretly applauded the understanding of the commodity economy by the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Who said my ancestors did not understand the market economy?Facts have proved that the Chinese are born with business acumen, and as long as the policy allows, they will overcome obstacles in the market and walk out a clear road - China in later generations has fully proved this.

Cheers to cheers, how to deal with this new thing has become a difficult problem for the court.

When the imperial court issued bank notes, it was accompanied by severe punishments - privately minted coins and printed more than [-] taels of money, that is, the sentence of beheading.In order to prevent people who are legally blind or ignorant from losing their heads because of curious imitations, this law is still a bit warm - a sentence of less than one hundred taels of exile and hard labor.

Because the issuance of banknotes is one of the most important financial activities in the country, the small-value banknotes at this time are very high-tech - the paper formula is strictly confidential, coupled with various anti-counterfeiting technologies such as multi-color overprinting, watermarking, dense pattern, etc. Hard to imitate.

However, the charge of counterfeiting money cannot be placed on the banker who issued the loan.They did not issue silver bills, nor did they cast dragon yuan, they just issued new bills by taking advantage of the policy loopholes in the court's policy of exchanging small-value silver bills with silver in equal amounts.

To be fair, if these "banks" don't use "Long Yuan" as the principal to earn money from the court, they use pure silver as the principal to issue bills and make loans.The small bank notes issued by the imperial court only inspired these private bankers to further develop the "silver notes" that existed in the old Song Dynasty and combine them with the loan business.

At the meeting in front of the Wenying Hall, Wang Guoguang said: "If the imperial court indiscriminately prohibits the issuance of such bills, it will not stand up to the law and reason; It is a dilemma to be unhappy with the use of banknotes. The ministers think that if the two evils have the lesser power, it would be more reasonable to prohibit the return of banknotes."

Why do you have to "take the lesser of two evils" again?Zhu Yijun smiled bitterly.During these years of reforms, the courtiers are quite annoying, because the deeper the reforms are, the more such things will happen, and there are a lot of threads, often affecting the whole body.

At the beginning of the reform, it was the interests of conservative forces such as big landlords that moved, and Zhu Yijun opened the situation with the butcher knife in his hand.If the reforms are to be carried out with a knife in the future, it is better not to change them, and it is even more fearful that the government will perish.Therefore, the more difficult it is to untangle the knot, the more impractical the court's administration will be.

Wang Guoguang went on to play: "Your Majesty, the ministers thought that the court's bank might be able to take out loans. As long as the interest rate is lower than that of the bank, they can't compete with us."

Zhu Yijun smiled and nodded.Seeing that all the ministers were waiting for him to express their position, he spoke again: "Everyone brainstormed, let's talk about it."

Hearing what the emperor said, Luo Wanhua, who had already returned to China and entered the political affairs hall, pondered: "Your Majesty, there are Portuguese trading companies in Bago and Yangon, and they do the same business as the banks in Linqing, Hangzhou and other places - but they do not have banknotes. In this part, I heard that there are many bankers in Europa who lend money to kings and nobles, but they don't have a national bank. Therefore, I thought it was not a big deal, and let them fend for themselves. No."

After Luo Wanhua spoke, Wang Zongmu, the left servant of the Du branch, took over the topic and said: "I think that what Wang Xiang and Luo Xiang said are very true. But what I am worried about is that the banks of the imperial court may not be able to investigate in detail like these banks-this is After all, it’s not their own business, and it’s just one level worse. Even if there is a mortgage, there are also places where the subordinates can take care of it. If the capital is lost, it will not be beautiful.”

Everyone laughed when they heard it.Zhang Siwei commented: "Jing's ability to settle accounts has emerged since the time of the governor of Caoyun, and now he is more and more able to calculate in the Du branch." Yang Wei, the secretary of the Du branch, reported illness today and will attend the meeting in the future. I love You Long, so I don't have stage fright in front of the big house full of bosses, and I can talk freely.

Liang Menglong had been listening in the past, and seeing that everyone was talking about the same, he put down the teacup in his hand and interjected: "Your Majesty, now both the National Bank and the private banks are doing business of "bank bill shops", and people need to exchange money in different places. Pay for custody; when merchants exchange loose gold and silver for dragon yuan, they also have to pay for fire. Woolen cloth?"

"In this way, all the money in the world will be put into the hands of the imperial court. Even if there are more banknotes issued, it will not be afraid of running, and the imperial court will be able to issue more money. Both, based on the world's gold and silver, the imperial court's loan interest rate can be low, and it is difficult for private banks to make loans. It also solved the problems faced at this time.”

Zhang Siwei saw Luo Wanhua and Liang Menglong shut up when they were discussing in the Political Affairs Hall, but at the Wenhua Hall, it seemed as if they were hanging up, and he said in anguish: "It's still not as good as Zhang Juzheng, if he was in power, which one would Deputy Prime Minister dare?"

(End of this chapter)