Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1044

"To tide over the current difficulties, we need to raise at least 5000 million yuan to deal with the aftermath." Cui Junsu explained in detail to the emperor and ministers why so much money was needed.

"In this war, the imperial court dispatched nearly 50 troops, of which more than 30 were directly transferred to the front line to fight, and more than 20 were deployed to the second-line defense. No less than [-] county soldiers and more than [-] township soldiers were dispatched. There were more than one million civilians. On the battlefields, more than [-] soldiers died in battle, and thousands of county soldiers and village warriors died. More than [-] horses, mounts, and pack horses died.”

"War horses and other livestock casualties can be replenished later, but the dead and disabled soldiers have to be paid immediate compensation and rewards..."

It’s true that if you are not in charge, you don’t know how expensive the money is. In a big battle, the prime ministers strategized at the center, and the generals commanded the battle from the front. But after the fight was over, they found that the most troublesome thing had just begun.There are rewards and pensions, and there are hundreds of thousands of standing soldiers here who are paid monthly and rationed every day.

The emperor's internal treasury has more than 1000 million guan, and it is already very rare to be willing to pull out 4000 million guan.But even so, there is still a gap of at least [-] million.

4000 million pennies, that's 400 billion pennies. The usual pennies are more than 2 million pennies. When piled together, it is definitely a huge mountain of money.

It would be even more serious if it was changed to silk and folded into grain, because there must be continuous mountains.

Of course, although this amount of money is quite a lot, it is not particularly much for those rich and powerful.Which family does not have a family business of hundreds of millions?Which family can be called a noble family without a family business of more than [-] yuan?
There was Shen Wansan in the Ming Dynasty, and Hu Xueyan in the Qing Dynasty. They were all rich and rich, and there were many in the Sui and Qin Dynasties in the Middle Ages.

In history, Yang Guozhong, the elder brother of Concubine Yang, had a net worth of 3000 million pieces of silk.Guo Ziyi, another Fenyang king who rebuilt the Tang Dynasty, had a salary of 28 yuan a year.

For another example, in the time of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, there was a businessman named Luo Fengchi in Chang’an City who started his business from scratch. Later, his family was worth tens of millions and gold treasures. After wrapping the tree, his family has not run out of silk, but he knows how rich he is.

Of course, no matter how rich you are, the money doesn't come from the wind.

It's like the emperor has accumulated more than 1000 million coins, which are also supported by huge royal handicraft workshops, royal caravans, and royal shops.

Others are the accumulation of several generations or even more than ten generations.

If the emperor issued an edict to borrow money from the people of the world, even if those people had money, they would not be willing to borrow.Before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen asked ministers to borrow money to pay Liao's salary, but even the head of the country refused to pay, only borrowed 500 taels, and his daughter Empress Zhou gave him 1000 taels from the palace to let him make up more They lent it to the emperor to set an example, but the head of the country still withheld 500 taels and only lent 500 taels to Chongzhen.

However, when the Chuang army broke through Beijing and tortured the nobles and officials, they confiscated countless gold and silver from the Guozhang's mansion.

Everyone is like this, borrowing money is not so easy.

Especially when the imperial court borrows money, others will think that the imperial court wants to force apportionment and demand donations. This kind of thing is common in all dynasties, and this kind of borrowing money, especially war-related loans, is basically borrowed but not returned. of.

Luo Cheng still thinks clearly, instead of borrowing like this, it's better to do it purely, that is, treat it as a simple commercial industry.

At this time, powerful and powerful landlords actually like to do lending business. Because of the high interest rate, not everyone can do this kind of financial business. If you have money, you must also have power and power, so that you can guarantee that you will receive money.

"Using the tax revenue of the imperial court as a credit guarantee, issue imperial bonds with an annual interest rate of five, four, and three cents, which can be issued for one-year, two-year, three-year, or five-year terms. bonds to raise funds."

Inspired by Cui Junsu, Luo Cheng decided to issue bonds.

Bonds are very common in later generations, and all countries will issue them, not only the state, but even local governments, and even companies issue corporate bonds.

But in this era, after the emperor said such a plan, he was stunned by a group of prime ministers.

"Bonds? What's this?"

"Naturally, it is the voucher of the debt. The imperial court stamped the paper coupon with the denomination of the loan, made it safe and issued it, and let officials and merchants come to subscribe. After the purchase, the imperial court got the loan, and the merchant kept the bond for The loan certificate will be exchanged at the imperial court after the agreed time limit, and the imperial court will repay the principal and interest.”

Cui Junsu felt that he couldn't turn his head around and couldn't keep up with the emperor's rhythm.

"It has never been easy for the imperial court to borrow money. Now that they are still making this bond, people can subscribe freely. Will someone subscribe?" He was deeply suspicious.

Luo Cheng smiled slightly.

"Annual interest is five cents. This interest is not low. No matter how much capital you have, you can get this kind of interest when you lend it to the court. Isn't Cui Xiang not tempted?"

Although private loans used to have doubled lamb interest, donkey rolls, nine times and thirteen returns, etc., the government's public money lending was once an eight-point interest rate.

However, after the founding of the Qin Dynasty, the usury was severely cracked down, and it was stipulated that the interest on past loans could only be double the principal at most, and the excess was not counted.After the founding of the Great Qin Dynasty, private lending can only be divided into five percent interest at most, and the imperial court does not support it.

Although there will still be high-interest loans after this law is promulgated, it is already prohibited by the law. If you violate the law, you will be severely punished once you are investigated and dealt with. Not to mention, there may even be penalties of exile and confiscation of property.

But now the imperial court borrows money, directly offering five cents of the highest interest stipulated in the law. At the same time, the imperial court borrows a huge amount, directly 5000 million yuan, and the repayment period is one year, two years, three years, five years, four years, and the longest is only five cents. Pay it back every year.

For rich people who have a lot of spare money in their hands, such bonds are indeed very stable, and they don't have to worry about others being unable to pay them back.

However, you have to worry that the court will not return it.

"One-year bonds have three-and-a-half percent interest, two-year three-and-a-half percent interest, three-year interest four percent, and five-year interest five percent. The imperial court allows these bond subscribers to resell, and only recognizes the bond but not the person when it is recovered." said the emperor.This article is added to prevent someone from subscribing and holding the bond, if there is an urgent need for money in the middle, and the court refuses to exchange it before it expires, it can be transferred privately, which can also solve some troubles for the holder and provide convenience.

"Your Majesty, how can everyone believe that the court will repay the principal and interest when it expires?" Cui Junsu asked.

"It's also simple, the credit of the Daqin court and Zhen. In addition, if the court cannot repay the principal and interest at the due date, the court will use salt, tea, wine, etc. to make up for it. They will never let them suffer, let alone damage the court's credit. .”

Salt, tea, and wine are good things, because these items are monopolized, and they can only be picked up and sold if there is an introduction.Citation is a tax payment certificate, but the goods are limited, so the quotation is also limited. Whoever has the quotation can get good goods such as salt, tea and wine to make money.

"Then why didn't the imperial court directly sell and raise funds?"

"This year's quotations have been sold out in advance by you, so this year's taxes have also been levied in advance. Now that there is no stock, are you short selling quotations? Or are you planning to sell one quotation and two quotations?"

Historically, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was such a situation of over-provision of salt, and it was very serious. In fact, it was eating more than enough food. In the end, a large amount of salt was imported, but the salt was never available, which led to the proliferation of private salt. The overall corruption of the salt government.

Nowadays, the monopoly tax on salt, tea, wine, etc. is the main income of the imperial court. Luo Cheng dare not make such a bad opening easily.Thinking back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Yanyin Chaofa was also financially insufficient at the beginning, so it was a little bit more, and slowly year after year, the superfat Yanyin accumulated more and more, and finally caused big troubles.

But it is different if the credit guarantee is based on salt. After all, the 5000 million bond is divided into four terms, the longest is five years, and it is not the kind that will be cashed immediately.

And the imperial court now has 4000 to 5000 million guan in salt tax a year, which means that with various quotations as guarantees, it is fully capable of digesting the [-] million guan bonds within five years.

Of course, if the imperial court's finances are in order in the future, and the bonds that are due can be redeemed every year, there is no need to pay with salt at all.

"Cui Xiang, do you want to take the lead and subscribe first?" Luo Cheng asked Cui Junsu with a smile.

Cui Junsu is the branch house of the Cui family in Qinghe, but he is a family of a famous family after all. After following Luo Cheng in the past few years, the tide has risen even higher. His daughter is still a concubine in the palace. There is still a lot of money.

Cui Junsu thought for a while, "I am willing to subscribe for [-] Guan."

"Oh, how many years? Five years?" asked the emperor.

Cui Junsu was still a little worried, for fear that the money would not come back if it went out, but thinking about it, the emperor didn't seem to be the kind of person who robbed his officials' money, and the plan the emperor gave just now was indeed good.So he gritted his teeth, "Five years."

"Okay, write it down, Ping Zhangshi and Cui Xiangguo, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, subscribe for a five-year bond of 12 guan, with an annual interest of [-] cents, repurchase at the end of five years, and a total of [-] guan of principal and interest."

Although there is no compound interest, the interest of [-] yuan for five years is still amazing.Although the five-cent interest rate is not the highest among private loans, the key lies in the huge amount of money, which is the most astonishing.

Cui Junsu shook his head, and immediately said, "Your Majesty, I... I will buy another [-] guan."

"Hahaha, okay, add another 20 guan, Cui Xiangguo subscribes for 25 guan, and when it expires in five years, a total of [-] guan will be repaid with principal and interest!"

Cui Junsu's face became hot when he heard the interest of [-] guan.Fifty thousand coins, such a large amount of money is not easy to earn, but now you can easily make money with no risk.

The emperor smiled and looked at the other courtiers in the palace, "Everyone, this opportunity is rare, don't miss it. Bonds are not available every year. If you miss such a good thing, it will be gone. You are the first to get the moon."

Wei Zheng, the servant under the door, said with a smile, "I'm not as wealthy as Cui Xiang, so just subscribe for three thousand coins!"

"Wei Zheng, don't cry poorly. You have received many rewards over the years. What's more, your Wei's Homebrew is now one of the famous wines in Daqin. Your winery earns more than [-] guan in a year."

"Then, let's subscribe for [-] coins." Wei Zheng said.

With the two prime ministers Cui Junsu and Wei Zheng at the beginning, the other prime ministers and scholars are not welcome, this one is [-] guan, and that one is [-] to [-] guan, after everyone subscribes.

The emperor was surprised to find that his prime ministers and the ministers of the three provinces and six ministries had already subscribed for nearly 1000 million yuan. In addition, his 5000 million and 2000 million bonds had not yet been printed, so he subscribed for [-] yuan. Wan Guan, what a great start.

However, Cui Junsu immediately thought that for a bond of 5000 million yuan, the minimum one-year term also has a 400% interest rate, and the highest five-year term rate is a [-]% interest rate. Calculated in this way, the treasury has to pay at least [-] million yuan in interest on this bond. Distressed.

(End of this chapter)