Cutting 1719

Chapter 363 The Chinese Craze in Europe
In fact, national debt has never been a new thing. As early as the Warring States period, some people began to borrow money from the people. This is the historical King Zhou Nan. At that time, it was the end of the Warring States period. , the capital is still in Luoyang, but for that era, King Zhou Nan had no status to speak of.

At the end of the Warring States period, Qin State attacked Zhao, and later sent troops to attack Luoyang. It is natural to know its intention, but at that time, King Zhou Nan had no strength to resist Qin State. At a critical moment, King Chu sent someone to see King Zhou Nan, and brought A good idea is to use the name of Zhou Tianzi to unite the six countries to resist Qin.

This plan is very clever, but the problem is that the Emperor Zhou at that time had no money at all, and he had no choice but to send troops to fight. At this time, someone offered a plan, which was to borrow money from the people in the name of the court, and lure the nobles to pay at high interest rates. After the war, the money was repaid with interest, so King Zhou Nan at that time issued the earliest national debt in Chinese history.

Due to the attractive interest rate, these national debts were sought after by the nobles, and they received a large sum of money very quickly, and signed a document, promising to repay the principal with interest after the war ended.King Zhou Nan, who got the money, recruited troops and put together an army of 6000 people, preparing to conquer Qin with Chu and other princes.

It's a pity that after waiting for three months, only Chu and Yan sent troops, while the other princes chose to wait and see. Therefore, the strategy of attacking Qin failed by itself, and King Nan of Zhou had to bring the army back to the city. Not long after returning, the creditors came to the door and demanded that King Zhou Nan pay back the money.

For King Zhou Nan, it is impossible to pay back the money, and it is impossible to pay back in this life.But the creditors naturally wouldn't suffer from this dumb loss, so they blocked outside the palace gate all day long, preaching that King Zhou Nan didn't pay back the money he owed, so King Zhou Nan could only find a way to run away and hide from the limelight.

However, King Zhou Nan is a great king after all, it is impossible to just take his wife and children away like this, so he built a high platform in the harem, took his concubines to live inside, and announced that he would never see outsiders at all, relying on the money not to return , Singing and dancing all day long, drunk with money and money, there is a so-called high debt.

Therefore, the national debt is actually not difficult to understand. Ning Yu just briefly popularized the past history for the big guys, and they all understood the emperor's plan. , Ask the rich folks to borrow money to go to war.

This... is really a bit insane!

In the eyes of everyone, the current emperor is really a bit too much. If you don't have money, you can just rest at home and go to court every day. Why do you have to borrow money to go to war?Not to mention winning or losing, how can I pay back the money?Is it possible that the big guy really built a high platform for you to live in?

After such an explanation, the court ministers became more and more opposed to the issuance of national debt. After all, in the traditional Chinese thinking, it is not a good thing to borrow money. It is a lesson from history. Be kind to the common people, wait for 80 or [-] years, and then there will be another Han and Wu.

At present, many ministers argued against the emperor's release, and hoped that the emperor could stop the army for a while to recuperate. Although those who spoke were some ministers and ministers, most of the higher-level chief assistants and second assistants It is to remain silent in order to express approval.

Ning Yu was a little helpless, "My dear friends, this week's forgiveness of the king did not pay the money, but it does not mean that I will not pay the money. In fact, next year's fiscal revenue is also clear to everyone. Since the implementation of our industrial and commercial tax law, the tax source has been obtained. Great expansion, this amount of money is nothing.”

Ning Zhongjing, the chief assistant of the cabinet, said helplessly: "But your majesty, it is said that private loans are often profitable. If the court accepts this interest rate, I am afraid that it will not be able to pay back the money. But if the interest rate is low, there will be no one at all." Lend the money to the court."

This is true. Private lending often has various names. Although it is obvious that borrowing is at most one interest per capital, that is, the upper limit of the total amount of interest is twice the capital, but in private it has long exceeded this limit. What nine Out of thirteen returns, there are countless benefits that can be rolled up.

Therefore, the business of the underground bank is very good. If the government opens up the national debt, if the interest rate is low, the temptation for the people is actually very small. In addition, the people are naturally afraid of the imperial power. If the government really does not pay back the money, they will not There is no way to do it, so it is very likely that no one cares about it.

Ning Yu smiled, of course he would have expected this situation, "I will issue national bonds, naturally there will be no interest rate, and there will not be too high an interest rate. Come back, four percent annual interest, that's all."

"Four percent annual interest?"

After listening to Emperor Ning's words, the big guy managed not to laugh out loud. This is really coaxing ghosts.According to Emperor Ning's calculations, the total interest of 800 million taels of silver is only 32 taels of silver a year, and the interest of not exceeding 100 million taels of silver has not been exceeded in three years.If this money is really placed in an underground bank, the interest will be multiplied several times.Which fool is willing to put capital on such a low interest rate?

It’s just that Ning Zhongjing, Cui Wancai and others have a flash of worry in their eyes. Under such circumstances, if they want to sell 800 million national debts, they may have to rely on a showdown, but since ancient times, such a showdown has been a big malpractice .

Ning Yu coughed lightly, glanced at the group of officials, but said slowly: "Under normal circumstances, no one would come to buy my national debt. But when I release this batch of national debt, it will be with Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, etc. The land of the various provinces is linked, and the collected flag fields and official land will be sold at that time, and only those who buy national bonds are eligible to participate in the land purchase.”

The meaning is very simple, the national debt of the war is naturally profitable, and you want to buy land when the time comes?It's very simple, first show your proof of purchase of government bonds, otherwise you will not be eligible.Through this binding method, those who want to acquire land are allowed to pay part of the money first to express their support for the imperial court.

When they heard this, the ministers made a fuss. The emperor is simply a business genius. With the land hanging in front, why worry about no one buying the national debt?Especially through this move, these people who bought national debt can be tied to Da Chu's chariot. They will try every means to urge Ning Chu to take down Yunguichuan, otherwise their interests will be ruined!
The things in it are not complicated, so many people can figure it out as soon as they think about it. At this time, most people have changed their minds, and they have begun to really think seriously about the specific use of national debt. Some people even think that through national debt , It is absolutely possible to lend more money.

"National debt must not be issued indiscriminately, because it represents the most precious thing in my life - credit."

Ning Yu's face became slightly serious. He couldn't let these ministers develop the habit of issuing national debts. After all, they did a lot of things like borrowing money. Sooner or later, they would not be able to pay. He had to sound the alarm for the ministers first. .

"The reason why I issued the national debt is because this time it is a war national debt. Through Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Dachu, it can completely make up for the cost of issuing national debt, and it will play a favorable direction for the entire country. But this kind of national debt is very special. Therefore, in ordinary times, you can’t wantonly spam, otherwise, sooner or later, the people will lose their trust in Da Chu.”

Ning Yu thought about it for a while, but he thought of something deeper, that is, it is completely possible to follow this opportunity of issuing national bonds and rebuild the currency system of the Han army, because the current system that uses silver as currency is really a waste of time. so terrible!In addition, this is also the key point of the industrial and commercial revolution, and it needs to be paid attention to.

As soon as he thought of this, Ning Yu no longer had the idea of ​​communicating with the courtiers, because the rebuilding of the entire financial system involved far beyond the knowledge of these courtiers, and more professional related talents were needed, or It is the talents of the Western banking industry, because in this respect, the West has gone farther than the Chinese Empire.

Like the Netherlands, which has strong mercantilism, it established the world's first stock exchange more than 100 years ago, and it is also the builder of the entire Western financial system. The creation of its own Bank of England enabled the UK to establish a complete currency market, especially its national debt system and currency market. While providing the government with more convenient and cheap financing, it also integrated with the British Industrial Revolution. Laying a solid foundation for London's financial hegemony is something Ning Yu needs to learn from.

Of course, even if Ning Yu wants to learn now, he can't learn it right away, because he doesn't know much about that set, and it is difficult for these people in China to fully understand it, so he Pinned his hopes on Ernst, who is traveling in Western Europe, and he will bring these talents and relevant theoretical knowledge to himself by then.

However, Ning Yu learned from Ernst's letter to him that the first batch of talents and related books will arrive in China in the spring of next year, and Ernst also mentioned one thing in the letter, Nowadays, there is a wave of China craze in Europe, so many Europeans come here admiringly, hoping to come to China, and even hope to live in China permanently.

For today's Europeans, the far east is a dreamlike world. Everyone yearns for the life of silk and porcelain, and some of them are even princes and nobles. It can be said that when Ning Yu wanted to learn something from the West However, the entire West is sparing no effort to learn the culture from the East.

When Ernst chatted with Ning Yu before, at the turn of the century more than 20 years ago, King Louis XIV of France held a grand new century ball in the magnificent Palace of Versailles, called "King of China", the ball All the aristocrats in Paris gathered on the street, and they were wearing formal dresses waiting for the arrival of the past, while Louis XIV was wearing a traditional Chinese costume, and walked out slowly in eight large sedan chairs, which shows the influence of Chinese fever in the West. degree.

Therefore, for Ernst, his worship of the Celestial Dynasty is not without reason, but has a deep cultural background. It can even be said that if it hadn’t been for the industrial revolution, the West has embarked on a road of external expansion. Otherwise, their worship of the East will continue for a long time.

It’s just that Ning Yu knows in his heart that the West’s worship of China is actually a seemingly beautiful curtain, a yearning for a rich oriental civilization, but once they realize the overall backwardness of the East’s military force, this kind of worship will take shape. Turned into the cruelest plunder, because in their culture, the weak do not deserve these riches.

Because of this, no matter how much the West worships China now, it will not affect Ning Yu's sending people to learn the essence of Western culture and technology. Only by integrating those things into traditional Chinese civilization can the already somewhat The aging Chinese civilization has regained its vitality. If it can carry out the industrial revolution first, it will keep China at the top of the world.

At the same time, Ning Yu was also wary of one thing, that is, with the deepening of exchanges between China and the West, not only was he actively learning from the West, but Westerners were actually actively learning from the essence of the East.

According to Ning Yu's understanding, many missionaries who come to China now have another mission besides missionary mission, which is to learn China's industrial technology and bring it back to Europe.

In the next few decades, Western missionaries will bring all the relevant things of Confucian culture back to the West, and will become the research object of Western philosophers, such as the future pioneers of the European Enlightenment such as Voltaire and Quesnay, They will conduct in-depth research on Confucianism, just like Quesnay will even be called "European Confucius" in the future. In addition, Diderot, Holbach and others will also be deeply influenced by Chinese culture.

They not only learn Chinese ideas, but also related technologies. In the next few decades, China's agronomy book "Nongzheng Quanshu" records the chapters on silkworm farming and cotton, as well as China's unique giant paper manufacturing. European technology, tung oil production technology, and even China's unique porcelain and tea planting technology have been learned by Europeans one after another, and they have surpassed them, completely changing China's monopoly position in these industries.

Throughout the eighteenth century, it took only a few decades for Chinese craftsmanship to go from leading the world to being overtaken by Europeans. It has not happened yet, and there is still time to correct it. Because of this, Ning Yu has specially set up strategic material control, including related books, which are absolutely not allowed to be exported or leaked.

Although Ningyu is opposed to closing the country, it insists on protecting the relevant technologies of the country, so that in the future era, China's top products, such as tea, silk, and porcelain, can be exchanged for China's industrial development funds and raw materials. Therefore, for the West The technological blockade has been fully launched in the entire Great Chu.

(End of this chapter)