Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 135 Sixty million taels!

In the blink of an eye, another four days passed.

The time has come to the [-]st of July in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. The day that the gentry and merchants in the eight prefectures and one prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River have been looking forward to has finally arrived. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will start selling bonds.

Before dawn, the Gongyuan Street where the House of Internal Affairs (Nangong) was located was already crowded with carriages.

Li Xiangjun got up early in the morning to dress up, and as soon as he opened the window, he saw that the Gongyuan Street across the Qinhuai River was densely packed with carriages.

There are few large squares in this era.

At the gate of the House of Internal Affairs, a dozen carriages could be parked.

But this time the Jiangnan gentry and merchants who came to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to buy and sell bonds said at least a thousand people. Most of these gentry and merchants came in carriages, after all, they still brought so much money.

These carriages can only be parked on Gongyuan Street.

There are Guozijian students patrolling the street to maintain order.

When encountering unruly slaves and evil servants, they are immediately reprimanded.

"What are you doing? What are you guys doing? Line up honestly and don't play tricks!"

"What about you, return to the original position quickly, or you will bear the consequences!"

"Listen to me, don't steal and play tricks, if caught, you will be punished severely!"

"What? Your master is the same year as the right servant of the household department? Nian's son?"

"Tell you, the chief minister of the cabinet is not good at greeting! We Qin Wang Shizi only listen to the Holy Majesty!"

The students of Guozijian used to be overbearing, but usually they were only overbearing towards merchants, but now it is different. Now they dare to scold officials, gentry and slaves, and even fight when they disagree with each other.

If the slaves of officials and gentry dared to resist, it would be miserable.

As long as the students say hello, dozens or hundreds of people will rush over in an instant.

Haonu is like this, let alone those green-skinned gangsters.

Recently, the green-skinned soil sticks in Nanjing City have become rare creatures.

As for things like bullying peddlers or molesting good women, they even disappeared.

In the words of those hawkers on the streets and alleys, the law and order in Nanjing has never been so good.

And this is the intuitive feeling that Chongzhen brought to the people of Nanjing, so the people support Chongzhen even more, thinking that the current emperor is really a rare good emperor.

……

Gao Hongtu's ox cart was also blocked on Gongyuan Street.

Here we have to praise Gao Hongtu's integrity. Gao Hongtu is now Daming's second assistant, a first-rank official, but he still lives in the bamboo charcoal workshop inside Jubaomen.

Bamboo Charcoal Workshop, you can tell where it is by hearing the name.

Gao Hongtu's apartment was still rented, and he did not buy it.

There is only one old wife and sixty-year-old servant in the house, just three.

"Master, Gongyuan Street is blocked." The old servant said through the curtain, "We have to make a detour."

Hearing this, Gao Hongtu raised the curtain of the bullock cart, and he saw that Gongyuan Street was blocked all the way to Suohuai Bridge. Judging from this posture, it was estimated that it was blocked from Suohuai Bridge to Nangong House of Internal Affairs.

Seeing this, Gao Hongtu began to pull his beard.

It's a pity, it's a pity that the money from the debt sale doesn't go to the household department's too warehouse.

"Detour!" Gao Hongtu quickly put down the curtain, out of sight and out of mind.

But Gao Hongtu knew very well that it was impossible to be in a good mood today.

……

Chongzhen father and son are in a very good mood at this time.

Especially for Zhu Cihong, it was really double happiness.

Chongzhen didn't like to engage in ostentation, so Zhu Cihong's wedding was able to go through all the procedures as quickly as possible, and he married the princess last night.

Thinking of the wedding ceremony last night, Zhu Cihong wanted to laugh.

At that time, he was really the crown prince's red hijab revealed in the mood of the above-mentioned court.

However, God gave him a rich gift, and the bride was surprisingly beautiful.

"Father, look, look, Brother Huang is smirking again." Zhu Cijiong said with a smile, "It hasn't stopped all morning. As for what, marrying a daughter-in-law will make you such a fool?"

"Third brother, you are still young." Zhu Ci said with a smile.

"After two years, you will also marry the princess."

"Tch, I don't want to marry the princess." Zhu Cijiong was very disdainful.

Little boys are like this, and each of them is ashamed to marry a wife.

Chongzhen next to him was also speechless, thinking that there was an old guy next to him who had tasted meat.

But having said that, it is not a big problem to choose a concubine for Zhu Cihong, but it is very troublesome for him to find a concubine himself, and he cannot easily visit a brothel.

I can only hold back for the time being.

While the father and son were talking, Ma Mingpao hurried in.

Ma Mingpao has been really busy for a while, and he has lost a lot of weight.

Before taking office, Ma Mingpao was still worried that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had nothing to do.

But when he really took office, he realized that things were really unusual.

First, arrest Han Zanzhou's attendants and thousands of minions, then pursue the property, and then calculate and return the tax and money, and try to ensure that there are no mistakes in the middle.

After finally returning the tax money, I have to prepare to sell bonds.

The matter of bonds is easy to say, but it is extremely complicated to prepare.

The first is to prepare the paper for printing the bond, which must be high-quality linen paper.

After finding the paper workshop, you have to find a carver, and it must be a carver who is good at micro-carving.

Then there is the printing house. To find a good printing house, you have to find the paint and mix the paint.

Thanks to the more than [-] students from the Guozijian and the thousands of scholars from Fengzhaoqin Wang, Ma Minglu had enough manpower. At the same time, these scholars were also very familiar with paper, pen, ink, and sculpture. You know where there is good paper, where there is the best printing house, and where there is the highest level of miniature engraver.

Tired and half dead, finally finished the errand.

Ma Mingtao said: "Your Majesty, the printing house has already delivered the bonds."

"The bonds have been delivered? Let's go and have a look." Chongzhen stood up happily.

He took his two sons to the outer room and saw two boxes in the hall.

Gu Gao and Wu Yingji stood by, and when they saw Chongzhen approaching, they hurriedly opened the box.

Ma Mingpao picked up a stack of bonds from the box and handed them to Chongzhen and his son respectively.

Chongzhen took the bond and rubbed it, and suddenly felt an inexplicable kindness, this is the banknote.

Well, what Chongzhen asked Ma Minglu to print was actually banknotes, but in the name of bonds.

If it's just a bond, you don't need to be so troublesome at all. You only need to ask the accountant to register your name and place of origin, and then issue a receipt. There will be no such thing as forging bonds.

Because the bond is useless if it is forged, you must pay it yourself.

Printing banknotes is much more troublesome and requires the best paper.

The printing ink has to be specially prepared, and there must be watermarks and encrypted characters.

Therefore, Chongzhen printed bonds completely using the standard of printing banknotes.

Regardless of whether banknotes will be issued in the future, the technology for printing banknotes should be reserved first.

Of course, the conditions for issuing banknotes are definitely not available at the moment, after all, the banknotes of the Ming Dynasty are still in circulation, and the gentry and merchants feel that they are too cheap to wipe their buttocks, and they are simply worthless.

The bonds that Chongzhen asked Ma Ming to print were different from the Ming Dynasty banknotes.

The Daming banknote is still a bill in essence, but the bond printed by Ma Minglu is no different from the banknotes of later generations, at least in style, but slightly larger and thicker than the hundred-yuan bill.

The bonds have beautiful colorful graphics on the front as well as the back.

There are secret characters hidden in these patterns, and Chongzhen's seal is also covered.

In the middle of the front is written the words "[-] taels of ten-year national debt" in capital letters.

In the middle of the back, 10 taels of 10000-year treasury bonds are written in Arabic numerals.

There are only three bond amounts, namely [-] taels, [-] taels and [-] taels.

"Okay, very good, Ma Qing, you have worked hard." Chongzhen was very satisfied with the bond.

After hearing Chongzhen's praise, Ma Mingpao finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This is what a minister should do."

Chongzhen just smiled when he heard the words, and when it was not time to pay, he said immediately: "Since the bonds have been delivered, let's start selling them. The gentry and merchants outside must have been waiting for a long time."

"Abiding by the order." Ma Mingpao cupped his hands, and walked out of the hall and shouted.

"Come here, open the door, the sale of the Ming Dynasty's first national debt will begin!"

In order to achieve the deterrent effect, Ma Mingpao specially dispatched two hundred barbarians.

These one hundred barbarians were all armed with habitual belts, filling the entire House of Internal Affairs like javelins.

So after the gate was opened, the gentry and merchants who had been waiting for a long time did not dare to make a fuss, but walked in one by one according to the queue, and entered the seats under the guidance of the scholars.

The sale site is still a water pavilion plus a corridor.

More than a thousand gentry and merchants were introduced into the surrounding corridors.

Ma Mingpao walked to the water pavilion in the middle with great ambition.

"Everyone, because there are a lot of gentry and merchants present, the [-] million taels of bonds sold in the first issue may not be enough to sell. Therefore, in order to ensure that everyone can buy bonds, I am here to change the rules."

Dozens of big Han generals quickly spread Ma Mingtao's words to the surrounding corridors.

Hearing this, many gentry and businessmen who arrived late breathed a sigh of relief. They were really worried that they would buy bonds in order, so that they might not have any soup when it was their turn.

Ma Mingpao said again: "We will first count the number of people present and the expected purchase amount, and then determine a ratio as appropriate, and then convert according to this ratio. Don't worry, everyone here will definitely be able to buy bonds."

Soon, hundreds of scholars took the roster and went to the corridor to inquire one by one.

After the scholar got the first-hand data, he quickly sent it to the accountant for statistics.

But after a cup of tea, the final figures were presented to the Emperor Chongzhen. A total of 1073 gentry and merchants were present, and the expected bond purchase amount was more than [-] million!

To be honest, Ma Mingpao was intimidated by this number.

Sixty million!Daming's annual income is no more than [-] million at most!
Chongzhen's mood appeared to be very calm, which was similar to what he expected.

Although he has done a lot of groundwork, the change of concepts and habits is by no means a one-time event.

It is definitely not an easy task for the gentry and merchants in the whole of Jiangnan to accept and embrace the financial industry.

Chongzhen's psychological expectation is [-]%, as long as [-]% of the private deposits are mobilized, it will be a success.

Now it is almost exactly [-]%, because he estimates that the private deposits of the entire eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River should be about [-] million taels, and [-] million is exactly one-fifth.

(End of this chapter)