A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1087 His Majesty Arrives
Li Shimin came to the Duke of Song Dynasty again to see the little Sizi. This time he specially brought the three brothers Li Chengqian, Li Tai and Li Zhi. "Yesterday, I went hunting with Shubao and Zhijie Beiyuan and ate Sophora pottery for lunch, but they all said that I was with you that day." The food at home is the best,

Today I brought the three prince brothers and I must try your Sophora pottery. "The emperor accompanied Jinyang to the Longmen Temple behind the Wu family and talked about it with a smile.

"On that day, I learned that the Sophora pottery made by my sister in the past was particularly delicious, because her cold pottery not only put the juice of the young Sophora locust leaves pounded into the noodles, but also added some chamomile juice, which was the finishing touch. pen."

"I have also dined at Ma Zhou's house several times. Mrs. Yan Guo's cooking skills are indeed excellent. So today I have to ask her to make this locust leaf cold pottery with chamomile juice."

Huaiyu sent someone to the Duke of Yan's mansion to invite the eldest sister over.

The two families live in the same building, not far apart.
The emperor specifically requested that today, just like the day Qin Qiong and the others came, they would eat locust leaf cold pottery, locust flower steamed buns and water basin mutton.

"Qingque and Pheasant Slave, you go play with your sister and learn how to throw pot," Li Shimin dismissed King Wei and King Jin.
The prince Chengqian was left behind, along with Wu Huaiyu and Ma Zhou who had just arrived with his wife.

The emperor had been a little angry recently, so Wu Huaiyu specially cooked a pot of chamomile tea.

"I have read the plan you drafted, Huaiyu, and I have also given it to all the prime ministers. Wang Gui objected very much and gave me a memorial with thousands of words.

He said that today there are people who herd cattle and sheep for their master, and exchange one cow for five sheep without telling the owner. The loss of one cow is concealed and not mentioned, and the gain of five sheep is regarded as the result of hard work.

Private lending has been around since ancient times.

With that said, the emperor took out Wang Gui's memorial and handed it to Huaiyu to read.

Although the imperial court was able to suppress Buddhism and Taoism, clean up illegal practices, and even crack down on the monastery economy, they were not allowed to occupy land and land, nor were they allowed to operate industries, nor were they allowed to lend money or pawn money.

Wu Huaiyu wanted to stop seizing money from Lingshi and stop lending money from public houses. People with insight all agreed, and Wang Gui certainly did not object to this.

The biggest reason for his opposition is that he thinks this is still public money lending, changing the soup without changing the medicine. Moreover, now that the scale is larger, the harm will be greater.

They also used the incense money donated by believers and the money earned by the temple from operating farms, mills, oil mills, etc. to lend money.

Li Shimin nodded slightly after hearing this.

There is some truth in what Wang Gui said.

Even some powerful people took advantage of the situation and borrowed the capital of the court, and then turned around and made loan sharks with nothing, etc.

Wu Huaiyu read through it carefully,
Wang Gui’s writing style is very good.

But you can't just say it can't be done.

But instead of those fat monks lending money, there are not many people lending money. From the royal family, the nobility, to the nobles, even the rural landowners and businessmen, even if they have money, they will lend money.

The story at the beginning about herding cattle and sheep for the owner and exchanging one cow for five sheep is quite eye-catching.

Although it is forbidden to suppress a wife, after a few lifetimes, if a tyrant corrupts an official, can your majesty protect her?
In the future, the world will hate him, and the history of the country will record him, saying that he started from your majesty, wouldn't he hesitate?

It is impossible to say that any policy can have the best of both worlds and be perfect at the outset, but if the original intention is good, it can be continuously improved.

Wu Huaiyu felt that he couldn't stop it.

For example, the imperial court has also intervened in this industry, but it cannot follow the trend of loan sharking like it used to do with public money loans, let alone forcefully suppress allocations.
The interest rate must be lowered, and Chang Pingcang may even rely on borrowing grain and cloth in kind.

It not only benefits the people, but also stabilizes the country, not to mention making money.

Then why shouldn't the imperial court get involved?

They will even absorb money from some wealthy and powerful landlords and use it for loans.

Taking the capital of 15 million proposed by the three major banks, even if the minimum annual interest rate is 20, if the year is good, there will be a profit of 3 million yuan.

For many people, borrowing money is a last resort. The high interest rates can even be said to be a poison to quench thirst, but what can be done?

Even since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the temple economy has been unprecedentedly prosperous. Not only did they occupy countless fields and have many slaves, they were also engaged in a large number of loan and pawn business. For a long time, those big temples not only borrowed money from the surplus grain produced in their own manors,

"The prince told me earlier that some people did this to compete for the interests of the court and the people. I explained to the prince for a long time. Those who really opposed it, those who were eager to attack, were definitely not people who wholeheartedly served the people. It will only be those affected by loan sharking,”

Of course, the temple takes out the money for loans and earns an interest difference, and the interest difference is very large.

Why did the Tang Dynasty engage in public money lending at the beginning of its founding?

"Your Majesty, I can understand Mr. Wang's concerns, but can we stop eating because of choking? The government-run bank loan that I proposed was formulated after careful consideration and taking into account the actual needs of all parties."

He also said that in the days of the Han Dynasty, financial resources were scarce. According to the Jia people's theory of mulberry sheep, everyone lost when they bought cheap and sold expensive. At that time, merchants were not good enough, thieves and thieves multiplied, and there was almost chaos.

In fact, this is not the first creation of the Tang Dynasty. It has been happening intermittently since the Northern Dynasties.
The public servants are also following the trend when making money and benefiting from it, and they are not blindly oppressing the people.

Wu Huaiyu dare not say that these situations will not happen.

He said that there will definitely be people who go against the original intention of the court for the sake of interest, such as the people below forcibly apportioning the principal directly, or even for the safety of the principal.
Poor and desperate people who may really need a loan cannot get it. But those who don't need it are assigned.

There is a huge demand for private loans,

The people have a large and urgent need for loans, and they are also suffering from the oppression of usury.

He said that the plan you are drawing up now is to destroy the young people in Changping. It will lose business taxes and gain profits from all losses. It is the story of one cow being exchanged for five sheep. "

Some people even charge a storage fee when they put their money with them, while some cooperative businessmen can get some interest if they put their money with them.

What he objected to in his letter was Wu Huaiyu's plan to expand government-run banks, expand Changping warehouses, and further promote Qingmiao loans and industrial and commercial loans.

It's impossible to say it's forbidden,

And with the interest rates at the three major government-run banks of the imperial court being so low, there is definitely no need to worry about not being able to release the money.

Interest rates are generally high.

If you are not allowed to restrain yourself, it will be empty words. Wu Huaiyu's method will also harm people.

Since the imperial court cannot simply ban it, it must find ways to improve it.

Of course what Wang Gui said makes sense, but does it mean that because some officials are corrupt, the imperial court will not send officials to govern the world?
Lending public money and seizing money are some of the bad policies that have been exposed and need to be changed urgently.

The loan scheme proposed by Wu Huaiyu was obviously a good law and would benefit the country and the people. As for the impact on loan sharks, does this need to be a concern for the court?
"Huaiyu, you were once a businessman who made history by catching money. You should be the one who knows the pros and cons best when it comes to lending money to officials and prostitutes.
I still agree with your plan this time, but there are also many voices of opposition from the DPRK and China.

Wei Zheng was also very opposed. He mainly did not support the imperial government's use of fifteen million yuan to lend the operating capital of government-run banks. "

In the Tang Dynasty, the total amount of public money in the capital, local governments, and various government offices, overtly and covertly, may only amount to a million dollars. In fact, it must be more than that, but who will hand it over all.

It is actually very difficult to collect even these one million from the more than 70 yamen in the capital, the more than 1,500 households in more than 300 states in the world, and the more than 600 Zhechong mansions, as well as the border guards and arrests.

No one will spit out the meat in his mouth.

The imperial court allocated 15 million yuan from the treasury to serve as the capital of the government-run bank. In addition, Chang Pingcang also used a large amount of grain and silk to operate the capital.

There are many people who are skeptical now, and Wei Zheng is one of them.

He firmly opposed the court using so much money to lend.
He felt that although there was borrowing and lending among the people, the court should not get involved in it. It should neither seize money and order officials to lend public money, nor should it open government-run banks to lend money on such a large scale. He believed that this would easily lead to disaster. question.

It is even easy to breed corruption.

Datang has developed quite well in recent years.
But after all, time is still short, and it has not yet fully recovered from the wars in the late Sui Dynasty. Today's population is far less than the population and money and grain reserves during the heyday of the Sui Dynasty.

We just suffered a major disaster.

"I may not be able to give you that much capital,"

Li Shimin is the Ninth Five Supreme Being, but he can't just do whatever he wants. He has to consider everything comprehensively and not give people the impression of being a foolish king who has his own way.

So even if he supports Wu Huaiyu in his heart, there are some things that Wu Huaiyu still has to do.

"Your Majesty, it's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice." Huaiyu said with a smile.

Li Shimin looked at him and knew that he must still have a way. He didn't even really want to take 15 million yuan from the court as capital from the beginning.

"You must have been prepared, tell me." Li Shimin sipped chamomile tea. Wu Huaiyu had indeed been prepared. Although he felt that the government-run bank was a business that guaranteed profits without loss, and was a truly good policy that benefited the country and the people.

It can not only help and relieve the people, but also support the development of industry and commerce and promote commercial prosperity.

But he had also been prepared for it. There would be many obstacles at the beginning. It would be unrealistic and difficult for the court to withdraw real money or tens of millions of dollars from the treasury.

Therefore, Wu Huaiyu already had plans A, B, C and D.

“If the imperial court cannot allocate funds for capital, then to do this, we must first solve the capital problem.

I have several ways. First, the court can borrow money, issue specific treasury bonds, and borrow a sum of money from the private sector as the starting capital. The treasury bonds can be repaid in installments. The time can be set for a longer period, and the interest rate will certainly not be too high.

In this way, the imperial court uses the money raised from issuing national bonds as the capital of government-run banks and uses it to lend money and collect interest. After repaying the portion of the national debt every year, there should still be some surplus. "

This method of issuing bonds to finance capital is not particularly good, but it can still solve the problem. In recent years, the imperial court has issued many bonds, all for special reasons, such as wars. Officials, soldiers and civilians subscribed to them, and there was interest.

For the people, as long as there is no forced suppression and apportionment, it is actually good. After all, Datang's credit is still good, and the interest on the national debt is also a profit.

Wu Huaiyu's hand was actually a white wolf with empty hands. He issued bonds to borrow money from the government and the people, used it to make the capital of the bank, and then lent it to others, and he could still earn some interest difference in the process.

This will increase the interest on the principal rather than directly using money from the treasury.

Li Shimin smiled bitterly after hearing this.
"Tell me the next solution."

"Plan C is a government-private partnership to attract some private capital, such as relatives of the royal clan, meritorious ministers, or famous local noble families.

They are also an important part of private lending today. They take out some members of government-run banks and sell them to them at a price, and the money they sell can be used as loan capital."

Li Shimin still shook his head after hearing this.
This inevitably leads to a lack of distinction between public and private matters, and it is more likely to cause problems if they are mixed together.

"Then I will tell you about the T-shaped plan.
The operation is simpler, first absorb savings and then lend.

Government-run banks can absorb deposits from the government and the people. Not only do we keep them for free, but we can also give them interest on the deposits. To facilitate their use, we can also set up demand deposits, time deposits, etc...."

This is still a blank wolf,

Collect deposits and then lend. The loan interest is higher than the deposit interest, and you earn the interest difference in between.

This is actually similar to the A-brand plan of issuing government bonds as capital and then lending.

"Is this possible?" Li Shimin asked.

Of course, the Wu family started with the Changsheng Hao pawn shop, then ran a gold shop and silver bank, and now, they have become several steps ahead of others in the financial field.

The Wu family has not only had an interest-bearing storage business for a long time, but also has a safekeeping business. They also issue their own money tickets, some of which can be redeemed with a token, and some can be redeemed with a voucher.
Even in some industrially and commercially developed places, remote redemption services can be performed in each semicolon.

Pawns, safekeeping, deposits, loans, exchanges, remittances, the Wu family operates many types of businesses, and they are also very popular.

The imperial court was indeed far behind in this regard.

However, the government-run bank has a huge advantage that ordinary businessmen do not have. That is, having the endorsement of the court is more credible and more trustworthy.

The emperor drank tea while carefully studying Wu Huaiyu's plan.

It is not difficult to operate,

And at first glance, it seems that it can make money and benefit the people.

"Your Majesty, what is really difficult, or what we should pay attention to, is the standardized operation and all-round supervision. We must prevent the good scriptures from being read incorrectly by the crooked-mouthed monk."

"Good national policies cannot be corrupted by corrupt officials."

Several plans,

The first set is a direct allocation from the treasury. It is planned to allocate 15 million yuan to the total capital of the three major banks. In addition, Changpingcang will use 15 million stone grain as the basis and also use it to do grain lending business. .

The three major banks and Changpingcang, as well as the seed warehouse that is expected to be built later, are respectively engaged in the business of lending money, grain, and seeds.

The second plan is to issue government bonds to raise capital for operations.

The remaining two plans are public-private partnership and interest-bearing deposit collection, and then use the deposits received to lend and earn interest differentials.

There will definitely be many detailed rules for specific operations.
For example, Sinong Bank will mainly issue loans for young crops and agricultural assistance in the future, mainly for half-year periods, with one cent interest and an annual interest rate of 20%.

Shaofu Bank, on the other hand, is mainly for industry and commerce. It mainly offers half-year loans with an interest rate of one cent, but also offers loans that last for one, two or even three to five years, with the highest annual interest rate being four cents.

The Hubu Bank mainly allows ordinary people to borrow money.

In short, the annual interest rate ranges from 20% to 40%.

Mainly credit loans, but they definitely need someone to guarantee them.
The grain in the Changping warehouse, the deposits in the bank, how to lend, how much to lend, the appropriate ratio will be worked out in detail.

For example, in later generations, the loan-to-deposit ratio reached more than 90% in the early days. Later, upper limit supervision was introduced, and the ratio continued to decline, from more than 90% to 75%.

In order to ensure liquidity, the ratio must not be too high, but if it is too low, you will not be able to make money, and you may even lose money. This ratio must be carefully studied.

The same goes for the grain in the Changping warehouse. You buy it when the grain is harvested and the price is cheap, and sell it at a low price when the grain price is high. You still make a profit in the middle, but this is less efficient.
Therefore, part of the stored grain is used as a loan to the people, and the people pay back the grain plus interest when it is due. Then the capital of Changpingcang will also increase.
However, the amount of grain released should not be too much, otherwise once there is a real disaster and the court needs the grain in the Changping Granary for disaster relief, there will be no grain available.

Therefore, whether it is lending money from bank deposits or borrowing grain from the Changping warehouse, the ratio must be mastered.

Wu Huaiyu believes that these are details, and the real key is the overall direction.
The project can be implemented first before you need to dig out the details.

If the imperial court cannot approve this project, then there is no need to say anything else.

"Prince, do you think what Huaiyu said makes sense?" Li Shimin asked Cheng Qian on the side.

"Erchen thinks what the teacher said is very reasonable."

"What do you think, Prince Bin?"

Ma Zhou naturally supported Wu Huaiyu, "I think the imperial court can still allocate some money and grain from the treasury to supplement capital. Of course, it is also good for banks to absorb the deposits of soldiers and civilians and give them interest, and then use them for lending. A two-pronged approach, then The immediate problems have been solved.”

Wu Huaiyu said that after the three major banks, Changping Cang and Seed Cang are stabilized, profits of three to five million yuan a year can be guaranteed.

When the emperor heard this, he finally made up his mind.

"Tomorrow there will be a court meeting in Wude Hall. Huaiyu, you have to convince all the prime ministers."

"Cheng Qian, during this period of time, you and Wu Huaiyu should concentrate on doing this well."

······
Things are basically settled.

At this time, the eldest sister Wu Yu'e and the others also prepared the meal.
Sophora leaf cold pottery, sophora flower steamed buns, and water basin mutton with lotus leaf pancakes in a bowl as big as a bowl of fresh meat with clear soup.

The Wu family also specially used the ice stored in the ice cellar to make several ice bowls. Sophora leaf cold pottery was packed in the ice bowls, which made it even more refreshing and delicious.

Li Shimin praised it repeatedly after eating it, saying that it was indeed different from the Sophora pottery made by the chefs of Shangshi Bureau and was more delicious.

The little princess Li Mingda very thoughtfully broke the lotus leaf cakes for her father. She broke the small cakes one by one and soaked them in the mutton soup. When the soup was full, they became mutton steamed buns.

Wu Liuze also broke bread for his father.
The two cute little girls even competed to see who could break it into pieces faster and better.

Li Shimin felt extremely comfortable while eating the steamed buns his daughter had made.

The three sons were sitting there, and none of them knew how to break bread for their father. It was the little princess who was the most considerate.

Li Shimin was very satisfied with this meal.

After the meal, he wiped his mouth and rewarded Yan Guo's wife Wu Yu'e with ten kilograms of gold and a hundred pieces of fabrics. He also gave Princess Jinyang an additional 100 real feudal households.

(End of this chapter)