Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 484 Controlling Public Opinion
"Woo-"

It seems that Zhu Gaoxu's scolding in the temple had an effect. In the following days, the number of people impeaching Wu Gao plummeted.

At the same time, as time came to the end of the fourth year of Hongxi, the railway between the two capitals was finally built to Jiangpu Station in Yingtianfu.

The opening of the Beijing-Beijing railway undoubtedly represents the further deepening of communication between the north and the south. It is the second expressway that can connect the north and the south in addition to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

However, compared with the water transportation of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the speed of railway is more than three times faster, saving more time and cost.

Although the current train fares are not affordable for ordinary people, for merchants, the profits brought by the rapid circulation of goods from the north to the south are more lucrative.

For example, for cloth, it used to take about a month to do business from Jiangnan to Peking, and a trip to the canal could earn 300 guan.

Now that the canal has been converted into a railway, a business trip between Jiangnan and Peiping only takes ten days and can earn 200 yuan.

The profit per trip has dropped, but the overall profit has increased.

Originally he could earn 3,600 guan a year, but now he can earn 7,200 guan.

After Huang Fu finished speaking, he returned to his seat. Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said:
"After the Lantern Festival, the four railways of Mobei, Beijing-Tianjin, Sichuan and Zhongyuan started construction at the same time."

"Pass the decree that the national debt will be exchanged for bonds and interest on the 16th day of the first lunar month, and the issuance of railway bonds will be stopped at the same time."

But before the Ministry of Household Affairs can take a breather, the arrival of Hong Xi in the fifth year also means that their burden will be even heavier.

Guo Zi revealed the entire financial situation of the Ming Dynasty. Since the Ming Dynasty's national debt was issued for three years, and it was just three years since it was issued, 1.38 million yuan needed to be repaid with interest.

Cattle, sheep, and coal from the north could be quickly transported to the south of the Yangtze River, while grain and cloth from the south could be quickly delivered to the north. The exchange of goods between the two further deepened communication between the north and the south.

In this environment, an article dedicated to land investment also appeared in the "Da Ming Pao".

"I accept the decree..."

With the dispersion of the Ming Dynasty, the "Da Ming Bao" published every quarter in the Ming Dynasty also began to be rushed to the local area for 800 miles.

There are 2,400 banks in the Ming Dynasty, and there has never been a day as busy as today.

"Those purchased before this will still be exchanged according to the three-year policy of converting bonds with principal and interest."

Looking at those who exchanged principal and interest, many people felt regretful, hating their own short-sightedness and hating the court for suddenly stopping the issuance of national debt.

Neither Guo Zi nor Zhu Gaoxu felt there was anything wrong with this, because they knew it was a game of chess.

After people who were accustomed to reading newspapers learned that the first batch of national debt principal and interest would be settled today and the issuance of railway government bonds would be stopped, many people with spare money went to the bank to watch the excitement.

"I accept your order."

"Last year, the imperial court's administrative expenditure was 28.5 million guan, the Sixth Army Governor's Office spent 19.67 million guan on military pay and military expenses, and the policy railway expenditure was 6.2 million guan, a total of 5,200 More than 490,000 strings."

But before that, the interest on the national debt must be adjusted. Otherwise, if people buy it in large quantities, the court will not be able to pay the 5% high interest rate.

With the completion of the Beijing-Beijing Railway, the burden on the Ministry of Household Affairs has become much easier.

Many people went to exchange principal and interest, and some people tried to snap up government bonds, but they were announced that the issuance had been stopped, and they beat their chests angrily.

When some things are available everywhere, no one cherishes them. When they become scarce, everyone will flock to them like sharks that smell blood.

"Ministry of Industry, how is the survey of the Mobei Railway? Can construction begin?"

The article takes Henan as an example. Before Yongle and Hongxi launched the migration of people from the northwest and Jiangnan to Henan, Henan had a population of only 2 million and only 27 million acres of cultivated land.

As long as the people adapt to the national debt and benefit from the exchange of national debt with interest, there will be no need to worry about no one buying the 36 million construction national debt issued by Ming Dynasty.

There are not a few such people, and they happen to be the middle class in the entire class of Ming Dynasty.

Guo Zi and Huang Fu had already prepared, so they bowed quickly.

When the common people celebrated the New Year without knowing it, the "Da Ming Pao" from all over the world was published in the early morning of the 16th day of the first lunar month.

"Last year, there were more than 18,456,000 households in the world and 97,456,425 people."

Guo Zi obviously knew Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement for a long time, so he bowed and agreed unhurriedly.

"Today, there are still 26.35 million coins accumulated in the national treasury and the world's Changping warehouse, and there are 4.5822542.39 cents of immovable gold."

Zhu Gaoxu cast his eyes on Huang Fu in the palace. Huang Fu, wearing court clothes, bowed and said:
"Back to Your Majesty, the first section of the Mobei Railway from Hecheng to Hailar City has been surveyed. The total distance is 630 miles, which is 30 miles less than expected. In addition, the cost is slightly higher than that of Pingyuan, but not too much higher. It costs 3.8 million taels. Considering that the local winter is long, winter is used to collect and transport materials. Construction can only start in summer and autumn, so the construction period is about four years.”

"On the first day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Hongxi, there were 3,463,357 depositors in the Ming Dynasty Bank, with savings of 45,253,647 yuan and 537 coins, and the issuance of national bonds was three One hundred and fifty-six thousand, four hundred and twenty-three guan, and more than 178,000 guan are required to be paid.”

"Last year, the imperial court withdrew 2.83 million guan from the Ministry of Household Affairs. At the end of the year, it needed to exchange 1.2 million guan for national debt, plus interest of 180,000 guan, for a total of 1.38 million guan."

As the population of the Ming Dynasty continued to expand, the price of local land became higher and higher, and the return on investment in land was too slow.

"Last year, the total of the court's land tax, commercial tax, customs duty, and mining tax was reduced to 46,274,327 guan."

Zhu Gaoxu is not planning to issue railway treasury bonds. This was originally a gimmick to attract the first batch of people to invest.

After the imperial court launched a large-scale population migration, Henan's population doubled in less than twenty years. Today, the population is more than four million, but the cultivated land has only increased to more than 33 million acres.

At the Zhengdan court meeting in the fifth year of Hongxi, Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, reported on various situations in the past year.

As long as the private sector began to speculate on national debt, Zhu Gaoxu could immediately issue other national debt with lower interest rates and obtain a large amount of gold, silver and copper coins from the middle class of the Ming Dynasty.

If Zhu Gaoxu wants to speculate in national debt, he must first make national debt scarce.

"Last year, the number of acres of land in the world was 6,952,432 hectares, with an additional 97 acres remaining."

Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu asked the six ministries about other matters, and finally solved most of the problems within an hour, and finally announced the disbandment of the dynasty.

"In October last year, the Ministry of Industry started preparing materials from Crane City, and construction is expected to start in early April."

During the Hongwu period, one acre of prime farmland in Henan was only worth 7 hectares, but now it has increased to 15 hectares.

Although the price of land has increased, the output has not changed much. After all, Henan's water conservancy has attached great importance to it during the Hongwu period, and the grain production brought about by water conservancy has long been implemented.

An acre of Henan's top-grade farmland, with the highest annual yield of only two shi per acre, could be sold for 700 wen.

For rich peasants and small landowners, it is impossible for them to work in the fields themselves. The land is leased to poor farmers for cultivation. The maximum land rent they collect cannot exceed the 40% stipulated by the court, so the annual rent per mu of land is The reward is two hundred and eighty cents.

When the land price is 15 guan per mu, the annual return is only 280 guan, which means that it takes 54 years for one acre of land to recover the cost.

If this is the case, the annual interest rate is only 1.86%.

Similarly, if you buy the railway treasury bonds originally issued by the imperial court, it will only take twenty years to recover the cost, and the return on investment is 250% of the land, which is simply unimaginable.

Once this article was published, many people immediately regretted it.

Today is the fifth year of Hongxi. Twenty-two years have passed since the Ming Dynasty implemented official learning, and seven years have passed since the nationwide implementation of official learning.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Rites, the illiteracy rate in the Ming Dynasty has plummeted from 92% in the 74rd year of Hongwu to % today. In other words, nearly a quarter of the people in the Ming Dynasty are literate, and they can naturally read and write. Read this article in vernacular.

For a time, regret filled the psychology of this group of people, and many people kept asking when the national debt would be re-issued.

Not only the private sector, but also officials began to petition for the issuance of national bonds.

Their reasons were high-sounding. They felt that it was taken from the people for the people. In addition, the court originally spent a lot of money to build the railway. Therefore, issuing national bonds would undoubtedly solve the financial burden in the short term.

This is their reasoning, but in reality all they want is to get a piece of the national debt.

After all, Zhu Gaoxu once said that national debt is legal income, and this has undoubtedly become the best investment for officials.

Finally, amid the excitement of the world, the "Da Ming Newspaper" in the second quarter of the fifth year of Hongxi announced the issuance of 2 "Da Ming Construction National Bonds", which were divided into three types: three-year fixed term, five-year fixed term and ten-year fixed term. The interest rate was It ranges from 2.5% for three years, to 3% for five years, to % for ten years.

The amounts issued this time are 20 million guan for a three-year period, 10 million guan for a five-year period, and 5 million guan for a ten-year period, for a total of 35 million guan.

Although the reduction in interest rates dissatisfied the people and officials, when the newspaper published it, most of the country's middle class still flocked to the banks.

Many people are ready to buy 10-year treasury bonds with the intention of breaking the bank. However, when they go to the bank, they find that the bank only has 3-year treasury bonds.

Fifteen million Treasury bonds with maturities of five years and ten years were bought up as soon as the market opened.

Although many people find it strange, they just think it is because the national debt is too popular, so they have invested their funds in three-year national debt.

In just one month, all 35 million treasury bonds were sold out, and this transaction also made Guo Zi aware of the importance of newspapers.

"Your Majesty, this issuance of national bonds, including five-year and ten-year terms, has been snapped up long before banks open."

In early May, when the national debt was being snapped up, Hu Lun was making a report in the Wuying Hall.

Ordinary people don't know the whereabouts of the five-year and ten-year national debt of 15 million yuan, but the imperial court has to know.

In fact, when the news came to Wuying Palace, Zhu Gaoxu had already guessed the whereabouts of these national debts, and asked Hu Lun to investigate, just to make sure.

"They started buying Treasury bonds on March 29th and filled in the bond date as April 1st."

"In just two days, all the 15 million treasury bonds were sold out."

"If it weren't for the fact that local banks had limited bonds, maybe they would have snapped up all the government bonds on the first day."

Hu Lun told Zhu Gaoxu all the information he had collected. Although Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised by this, he still admired the vision of this group of people in Daming. The memorial for the issuance of national bonds was signed by Zhu Gaoxu on the second day of February. At the same time, the bonds were distributed to 2,400 banks across the country.

Therefore, officials in Beijing knew that the court would issue bonds two months in advance, and two months was enough time for them to prepare a large amount of cash.

For insurance, local bank directors were bribed to purchase bonds in advance to obtain high bond returns.

It has to be said that this group of people is really unrivaled in the world in terms of calculation.

As early as when Zhu Gaoxu promoted national debt, he thought that such a day would come.

History is a cycle. When Zhu Yuanzhang obtained the treasure banknotes, the officials calculated to obtain the treasure banknotes. However, they did not expect that Zhu Yuanzhang used the treasure banknotes as paper to print, so they lost his wife and soldiers.

Compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Gaoxu's economic methods are undoubtedly more sophisticated. Bonds are his means of raising funds from the private sector, while newspapers are his means of controlling public opinion.

The so-called land return rate is only 1.86%. This is nothing more than an article he wrote himself to guide public opinion.

Of course, this rate of return is actually similar to the actual rate of return on land in Henan.

However, Henan is Henan, and other places are other places. If you really want to write about places with low return rates, then Zhu Gaoxu can undoubtedly write about the low return rates of land in Jiangnan.

Moreover, he only calculated the output, not the increase in land value.

If the increase in land value is added, the land return rate will obviously far exceed the numbers he wrote.

There are many strange people among the people, and naturally some people can see this, but they have no way to spread their voices, so most people can only receive their own voices and be guided by their own public opinions.

The national debt of 35 million is just the beginning, and there will be more drama like this in the future.

"Your Majesty, Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, would like to see you."

The words of the eunuch on duty awakened Zhu Gaoxu, and he looked at the palace door: "Xuan."

At the same time, he also told Hu Lun: "I know, just keep an eye on it and get down."

"I excuse myself..." Hu Lun bowed in return, then stood up and walked out of the hall.

When passing the palace gate, he and Guo Zi looked at each other, nodded and said hello, and then went about their business.

Guo Zi walked into the hall, and a eunuch on duty changed the chair.

"His Majesty……"

"Sit down and talk."

Zhu Gaoxu leaned on the armrest of the dragon chair and touched his mustache with his leaning hand. His nonchalant look gave people the illusion that he didn't care about anything.

"Your Majesty, the annual interest on the 35 million guan national debt is nearly 1 million guan. I really don't think the imperial court needs that much money and food."

When Guo Zi said this, Zhu Gaoxu said: "Now that the national debt has been raised, it is time to start the construction of the Hanhan Railway, the Huguang Railway, and the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway."

Zhu Gaoxu wanted to build three railways as soon as he opened his mouth. Guo Zi could only nod his head after hearing this: "Even so, the court will need to pay back 21.2 million yuan with interest in three years, and 1,100 yuan in five years." 1.25 million, and 6.5 million in ten years, for a total of 38.95 million."

"After all, the interest alone is 3.95 million yuan, which is really..."

Guo Zi only felt a bitter taste in his mouth, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "You..."

"Businessmen know how to use money to do business, is it possible that you can't?"

"Let me ask you, where has the Northwest Railway been built now?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Guo Zi, and Guo Zi heard the words and said without thinking: "Now the construction has reached Huai'an County, and it has been divided into two, all the way to Hetao, and all the way to Taiyuan."

"The northern section is expected to be repaired to Dingxiang County (Hohhot) in Hetao by the end of the year, and the southern section is expected to be repaired to Shuozhou by the end of the year."

Guo Zi said this, and Zhu Gaoxu continued after hearing this: "You have the world's yamen in your hands. Wouldn't you let them draw up materials and price lists along the railway for you, and then trade them from north to south?"

"The total number of bank and treasury bonds in your hands is nearly 80 million guan. Counting the national treasury, it is 100 million guan."

"This money is used to buy and sell supplies. It benefits the people along the railway line. Is it possible that I won't be able to earn back any interest money?"

Guo Zi is good at managing money and food, but he has never thought about using the court's money and food to do business. Now after Zhu Gaoxu's guidance, he suddenly realized it.

"The business that the imperial court wants to do is preferably stable and large-volume business."

"Nowadays, when railways are built, people along the railways are very wealthy, but the north is short of food and the south is short of cattle and sheep. This is a business you can do."

"Besides that, sugar in the south and furs in the north were also businesses, not to mention coal."

"I know the railway's transport capacity better than I do. Although businessmen are doing business now, the number of trains is actually very unreasonable. There can only be one train every hour."

"If it is used for freight transportation, dozens of buses can be sent every hour, then why can't the Ministry of Revenue make money?"

Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Zi talked about these ways to make money, and they didn't think there was anything wrong.

The so-called competing for profits with the people seemed to Zhu Gaoxu to be pedantic. If all the money for competing with the people was spent on the people, Zhu Gaojiu did not believe that the people would think it was wrong for the court to make money.

It is important to open up new territories and expand territory, but putting people's livelihood first is also indispensable.

When Zhu Gaoxu evaluates his achievements, in addition to territorial expansion, he also needs to look at the lives of the people.

During the Hongwu period, coal cost 130 kilograms per 100 kilograms, and there were not many jobs available in Jiangnan. If they wanted to eat hot meals every day, a family would have to use at least 1,300 kilograms of coal every year, which is a lot of money. .

The amount of money is the output of one and a half acres of land in Jiangnan, so many people in Jiangnan may not be able to eat hot meals.

But now, as the train arrives in Datong, coal has begun to be transported southward one by one.

The original cost of one hundred kilograms of coal was thirty cents from the mine, and most of it was spent on transportation.

In the past, transporting one hundred tons of coal southward by boat or horse-drawn carriage cost twelve guan for one hundred miles.

The current railway freight cost of the imperial court is actually three guan per hundred miles of full load. In other words, with a full load of 200 tons of coal, the cost of transporting coal from Shanxi to Jiangnan does not exceed 130 guan including the labor of transportation. , and after selling it at a price of seventy guan per hundred catties, the imperial court could earn ten guans per trip.

This may not seem like much, but if the imperial court sends a hundred coal trains from Datong every day and sells it to various cities along the way, the cost can be reduced further and the profit will be even greater.

Even if you go to Jiangnan every time, you can make more than 300,000 yuan a year. If you sell it to Peking, Henan, and Shandong counties along the railway, the profit can even be doubled several times.

This is still a commercial method of selling things to the south. If you buy wine, sugar, cloth and other commodities from the south of the Yangtze River and go north, you can make another profit after selling them.

Zhu Gaoxu has never doubted the coal market in Jiangnan.

The daily demand for coal for a population of more than 40 million is an astronomical figure. You must know that there are very few mature trees in Jiangnan, let alone forests, even in mountainous Fujian, let alone Jiangnan.

Even if only 10 million people need coal, that would still be 30 million kilograms of coal purchased every day.

The Ministry of Household Affairs can transport the coal to the railway station and then sell the coal to merchants, who will then transport it to various places and sell it to the people.

In this way, even if there are middlemen handling the business, the people in Jiangnan can still get benefits.

"I understand, thank you for your advice."

Guo Zi bowed in admiration, while Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said:
"As the Minister of the Ministry of Accounts, what you have to do is make money generate money. In this way, the bank's savings and national debt can last for a long time."

"I allow you to use one-third of the savings in the bank. Ten million yuan left in the national treasury is enough."

"You can use the remaining money to do business, and you can make whatever you can."

"Only by allowing money to circulate can we better promote the market economy. You should have your own opinions on this after reading my book, so I won't interfere too much."

After Zhu Gaoxu's instructions, Guo Zi also stood up and bowed. With his permission, he left Wuying Hall and went about making money.

Not long after he left, Yi Shiha also walked into the hall with a memorial.

Seeing him appear, Zhu Gaoxu glanced sideways and said, "He disappeared early in the morning. If you don't have a valid reason, then I'm afraid I have to ask him carefully."

"There are some reasons, mainly about Kunlun Continent."

Yishiha smiled lightly and presented the memorial with both hands. Zhu Gaoxu also took the memorial and read it ten lines at a time.

When he saw Meng Ran's name, Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly, because he remembered Meng Zhang saying that his youngest son was not good enough and always thought of other ways, so Meng Zhang often had a headache about his affairs.

"Meng Mao is now an official of Qianhu, right?" Zhu Gaoxu mentioned Meng Zhang's eldest son, Yi Shiha nodded and said:

"Meng Mao is indeed an official of Qianhu. He followed Wang Rong to Yanran City before. His team was in good order and he was praised by Wang Rong Shangshu."

"The eldest son is in the army and the second son is in politics. No wonder Meng Zhang has a headache." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and put down the memorial.

Yi Shiha thought he didn't like this way of raising heirs, so he asked, "Do you want to remind me?"

"No need, I just sighed a little." Zhu Gaoxu picked up the ink pen and lowered his head to deal with the memorial.

After a while, he added:

"By the way, let the people in Xichang increase their surveillance of Kunlun Continent, and the Jin Yiwei will also monitor those who buy the most national debt."

After the words fell, he stopped talking. When Yi Shiha saw this, he bowed in response and turned around to give orders.

(End of this chapter)