Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 286: Hall Bank and Newsstand

Lin Hai picked up the tea bowl, took two sips of tea, and continued: "A considerable portion of this 100,000 taels of silver per year will be used to build the guild hall and its daily operations."

"Brother Deng Wan, are you referring to the examination hall?" Zhang Pu said, "It is a guild hall built in the capital by local celebrities, mainly for officials or candidates from the same hometown to stay or hold gatherings."

"It's similar to this, but the guild hall I'm talking about is not only in the capital, but also in other cities." Lin Hai said, "The guild hall will be open to all members of the Ying Society. As long as there are vacancies, you can come and stay for free at any time."

Zhang Pu's eyes lit up when he heard this. This would greatly facilitate the socializing of the members and would undoubtedly increase the attraction of the society to scholars. He quickly asked, "May I ask, Brother Deng Wan, in which cities will the guild halls be built?"

Lin Hai said: "First, the two capitals and Suzhou and Hangzhou, then the provincial capitals, the capitals of the ten prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, and the throat cities along the Grand Canal, Yangtze River, and Gan River, all need to be built step by step. In short, wherever you develop the Ying Society, I will build the Guild Hall there, where there are many members, and in the county town."

Zhang Pu was shocked: "We need to build so many? Just these guild halls will cost tens of thousands of taels every year!"

"Don't worry, the 100,000 taels I mentioned is just an estimate. If it's not enough, you can add more." Lin Hai said, "And these clubs not only provide accommodation, but also provide exchange and deposit services to all members."

Zhang Pu didn't quite understand: "Brother Deng Wan, what do you mean by exchange and deposit?"

"Let me talk about exchange first." Lin Hai took another sip of tea. "To put it simply, you hand over the silver to a guild hall, and the local guild hall will give you a voucher. With this voucher, you can withdraw the silver from another guild hall..."

Zhang Pu suddenly realized and said, "Brother Deng Wan is talking about the ticket meeting, right?"

"Huh?" Lin Hai was surprised when he heard this. Could it be that there were already ticket houses in this era? Didn't that thing only start during the Daoguang period?
"It's about meeting tickets..." Seeing that Lin Hai didn't know, Zhang Pu explained.

The Huipiao in the late Ming Dynasty was actually a deposit certificate, mainly used in the capital. That is, the silver was deposited in the homes of wealthy merchants in the capital, and when needed, the Huipiao would be used to withdraw it. It was mainly for the convenience of those who frequently went in and out of the capital without having to carry large sums of silver back and forth every time.

This kind of meeting ticket basically only exists between acquaintances and is not open to the public. In addition, withdrawals in other places are not common. Therefore, it is fundamentally different from the Piaohao in the late Qing Dynasty. However, it can indeed be regarded as the predecessor of the Piaohao in later generations.

"Yes, it's the kind of membership ticket you mentioned, but mine can be used to withdraw money from other places, and it is open to all members of the Ying Society." Lin Hai said, "Also, my club not only does not charge deposit fees, but also pays interest."

Now it was Zhang Pu's turn to be surprised. He stared blankly and asked, "Give... give interest?"

"Yes, this is the deposit I just mentioned. The interest is divided into two types: fixed deposit and current deposit. The interest of fixed deposit will be higher..." Lin Hai patiently explained to Zhang Pu. These were common knowledge known to everyone in Jinhe Kingdom, but they were still quite shocking in the Ming Dynasty.

So far, what he said did not exceed the business scope of the late Qing Dynasty ticket houses. Although the ticket houses were mainly engaged in foreign exchange, they also engaged in deposits and loans. As for financial businesses such as bonds, Lin Hai felt that there was no need to rush for them for the time being. He would wait until the credit of foreign exchange and deposit businesses was established before talking about it.

Exchange and deposits also rely on credit support. This is why Lin Hai initially limited his service targets to members of Yingshe. After all, unlike Jinhe, Huiyou Company in Daming is not backed by the government, so it can only be backed by Yingshe, not to mention that the credibility of the Daming government is probably not as good as Yingshe.

What's more, the scholars of Yingshe have an urgent need for foreign exchange business. They often travel abroad to study, and have to go to the provincial capital for the provincial examination and the capital for the imperial examination. It is always inconvenient to carry large sums of silver.

Linhai does not charge exchange fees, so the long-distance exchange process will naturally generate current interest, which is equivalent to using the exchange business to boost the credit of the deposit business. After everyone feels comfortable depositing money and earning interest, it will be natural to launch the bond business.

In addition to the gradual development of the business scope, the service objects can also be relaxed in due course, and then it will be a bank that truly serves everyone.

After listening to Lin Hai's talk about exchange and deposits, Zhang Pu wondered, "With only outflows and no inflows, let alone 100,000 taels per year, even a million taels may not be enough. Can Brother Lin support it financially?"

"How can it be that there is only outflow and no inflow? Of course I do this to make money." In order to dispel Zhang Pu's doubts, Lin Hai continued, "My guild hall also lends money to local banks and charges a certain interest. Of course, the interest is not as high as that of banks lending to private individuals. This way of making money is very common overseas. Lin has done this kind of business before."

The so-called money shops mainly engaged in the silver-money exchange business, and also lent money at high interest rates. Some of them also ran cloth and rice businesses. In short, they dealt directly with ordinary people and were generally local tyrants.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the main lending target of the ticket exchange was the local money house. The money house borrowed money from the ticket exchange at a lower interest rate, and then lent it to individuals at a higher interest rate, making a living from the interest rate difference. In addition, silver in this era had various qualities, and copper coins also had high and low coins, so the profit of silver and money exchange was also very lucrative. This kind of money house was very common in various places, and even many rural areas had small money houses called money tables. Since the fifth year of Wanli, the copper coins issued by the Ming Dynasty were also sold through money shops, which was an officially recognized money house.

Lin Hai did not want to touch the business scope of the money house for the time being, just as he did not want to run a brokerage firm that controlled the upstream silk industry, but he could cooperate with the money house. After all, that was what the bank did in later generations.

Moreover, Lin Hai can also connect the Sihai Bank with the Ming Dynasty's guild system. In Jinhe, he can lend money to private individuals. This will further activate the total amount of funds of the Sihai Bank, help use finance to support the development of industry, and promote the process of decentralization of official industries.

In the future, as his fleet begins to dominate the oceans, Huiyou Company's banking system can be pushed overseas, backed by military force to establish financial hegemony in the entire East Asia and Southeast Asia. After all, even a relatively developed Southeast Asian country like Annan cannot mint copper coins properly.

If financial means are used well, then the enemy's money and resources can be used to conquer the enemy country.

For example, if Lin Hai were to go to war with Japan, he could issue bonds to the rich in Japan. As long as his credit was strong enough, there would be plenty of people who would buy them.

You don't even have to issue bonds to the rich in Japan. You can directly borrow money by mortgaging Japan's mineral management rights. Of course, the prerequisite is that your military force is strong enough and others have to believe that you can definitely conquer Japan and thus fulfill their mineral management rights.

These are the methods that the great powers of later generations often use. When that day comes, the pace of expansion will never be stopped. Even if the forest and sea collapse, the wheel of the empire will still roll forward!
Of course, none of this mattered to Zhang Pu. Lin Hai just wanted him to understand that he was doing this to make money. He then added, "Also, I want the exclusive right to sell the collection of contemporary essays produced by Yingshe. I will be responsible for printing it and distributing it throughout the world."

Zhang Pu looked embarrassed when he heard this: "Brother Deng Wan, the money from selling the Shiben book was given to individuals. I'm afraid Zhou Jie will have objections to this matter."

Lin Hai said, "I will also pay, just the price Zhou Jiesheng sells to other bookstores. My bookstore has provided many conveniences to Yingshe, and the cost of your solicitation has also been reduced a lot. Is it too much to ask for the right to receive manuscripts first at the same price?"

"As it should be, as it should be." Zhang Pu nodded repeatedly. He personally didn't care much about money. It was enough for him to have enough. What he wanted was fame.

In fact, Lin Hai is the same. He is not greedy for the profits from selling books, but to boost the circulation of his newspaper, which can become his propaganda mouthpiece in the future.

After all, the hottest publishing industry in the Ming Dynasty was not novels, but collections of contemporary essays. Lin Hai only needed to bundle the newspaper with the collection and give the current issue of the newspaper for free when buying the collection. Then his newspaper would soon become popular among scholars.

When Lin Hai first heard Zhang Pu talk about election politics, he began to think about combining his interests with newspapers. At that time, he wanted to run a newspaper together with Fushe.

However, this meant that he no longer had absolute control over the newspaper, and he ultimately decided to run the newspaper independently, only relying on the sales techniques of the Fushe Selected Works.

The sale of newspapers still relies on the guild hall, and Lin Hai has made full use of the guild hall. This thing is not only a guild hall, it is also a bank and a newsstand.

Relying on this guild system, Lin Hai can do a lot in the future. It can be a financial network, a propaganda network, and of course an intelligence network, as long as he has a team of people engaged in intelligence work.

To put it bluntly, this is a big network laid by Huiyou Company in Daming. As long as there is a need, all branches can be included in it.

Without the shelter of Fushe, it would have been difficult to build this big network, because the Ming Dynasty was jointly governed by the imperial power and the gentry. Before Lin Hai took power, he had no choice but to cooperate with the gentry.

Otherwise, just talking about the matter of the guild lending money to the money house, the local money house may completely ruin your family and make a profit without even a burp.

But it is different with the Fushe behind it. The Fushe itself is a network of gentry power. This network transcends the region and is a nationwide network. This is its greatest significance to Lin Hai.

"Brother Deng Wan, when will the guild hall you just mentioned be built?"

"When Xu Yilong arrives, we will start construction right away. Don't forget, this is all done by the Xu family, and I have nothing to do with it..." Lin Hai said, "We will set up a site in the two capitals and Suzhou and Hangzhou this year, and then gradually expand to all parts of the country."

(End of this chapter)