Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 113 Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty ([-])

After half a month.

The scorching sun is high and it's a quarter of noon.

Bada Restaurant, in a living room in the backyard.

The restaurant owner Bai Jinfu and his right-hand assistant Gao Lin were sitting around a four-corner table, each holding a cattail leaf fan, drinking herbal tea to relieve the heat and discussing matters.

"Ten days ago, a temple in the south of Shangyuan County was transformed into the Shangyuan Branch of the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty under the supervision of the current prince. What do you think of this?"

Bai Jinfu took a sip of tea, glanced across Gao Lin's face, and asked gently.

In Shangyuan County, there is a shop called Jinfu Silver Store, which Bai Jinfu just purchased in October last year. His assistant Gao Lin is the second shopkeeper of this silver shop.

On weekdays, Bai Jinfuduo handled affairs at Bada Restaurant, leaving the affairs of Shangyuan County Bank to Gao Lin.

As the second shopkeeper of a bank store, Gao Lin naturally pays close attention to institutions involved in the money business in the county.

He had seen many notices posted on the notice board in front of the gate of Royal Bank Shangyuan Branch, and knew that the notices detailed the bank's external business including deposits, loans, bills of exchange, exchange of bills and other items.

According to the arrangement of the imperial court, from the day the Royal Bank Shangyuan Branch opened, all new currency exchange matters in Shangyuan County were transferred from the exchange office in front of the county government office to this bank.

"Boss, I think this bank is very similar to a silver shop." Gao Lin said respectfully.

The word "boss" has been around since ancient times, and refers to the owner of a business. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, southerners used respectful titles for business people, just like "shopkeeper, boss" in the north.

The traditional Chinese character for "boss" is boss, and old means seasoned. The word "ban" means that a businessman should have good character and integrity, that is, only those with good character can be called "ban".

"Why do you say that?" Bai Jinfu asked.

Gao Lin answered bluntly: "Recently, many villagers have taken their old money and broken silver to banks to exchange for small treasure notes. The business of bank stores has been greatly affected."

Part of the copper produced in the Ming Dynasty was used to cast cannons and other firearms, so that the amount of copper coins cast could not meet the development of commerce, agriculture, and military expenditures.

Therefore, in August last year, after discussing with Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Di decided to print new-style banknotes with smaller denominations. In order to distinguish them from the larger-denomination gold banknotes and old-style banknotes, the new banknotes were called small banknotes and small banknotes. Written language is still called treasure money.

There are six denominations of old-style banknotes, namely one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred and consistent.

The face value of Xiaobao banknotes corresponds to the new copper coins, and there are four types, namely Yiwen, Wuwen, Shiwen and Baiwen.

After all, Zhu Di's credibility is very secure. Three months after the imperial court introduced the new currency last year, the policy of exchanging old banknotes for new banknotes was also announced. There is an exchange office at the entrance of each county government office in Zhili.

Although the exchange of old banknotes for new banknotes requires discounting the old banknotes according to the market price, it still cannot stop people's enthusiasm for exchanging new banknotes.

Carrying multiple copper coins in a purse or sleeve pocket makes them jingle when walking and is cumbersome, which is very annoying. New banknotes of smaller denominations do not have these troubles.

The new banknotes are small in size, easy to carry, and have better thickness and wear resistance than the old banknotes. The multi-layered money bags sold in many shops in the capital are very suitable for holding such new banknotes and are very popular among the people.

The most important point is that new banknotes belong to the category of new currency. Taxes paid with new banknotes can also be reduced or reduced according to the proportion stipulated by the court.

After more than a year of continuous exchange, the old-style banknotes circulating in Zhili have been greatly reduced.

"Not really, the bank mainly exchanges various coins and gets the price difference. It rarely involves lending business, and has never even handled interest-bearing deposits for customers." Bai Jinfu shook his head and said: "You can get interest on deposits in the bank, although it is far away. The interest rates are not as high as private loans, but this move sets a precedent for deposits to be interest-bearing. Therefore, it is inevitable that the exchange business of our bank is getting worse day by day."

"I don't dare to deceive the boss. There are several clerks in the store who have deposited the saved wages into the bank in the south of the city. This kind of thing is a private matter after all. We help people exchange money for profit, and we do it secretly, so the boy There’s nothing stopping them from saving money.”

Gao Lin said timidly.

More than ten days ago, the Daming Royal Bank in the capital held an unveiling ceremony, and Yongle Emperor Zhu Di attended the ceremony in person.

At the ceremony that day, Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di announced in public that Prince Zhu Gaoxu would serve as the president of the head office of the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank, and Xia Yuanji, the minister of household affairs, would serve as the vice president.

Although the scale of this ceremony is not as large as the sea cruise ceremony, it is still an extremely grand formal ceremony.

There were thousands of guards guarding the scene, so it was difficult for ordinary people like Bai Jinfu to approach the ceremony stage, and they could not see the true faces of Yongle Emperor Zhu Di and Prince Zhu Gaoxu.

What's more, Bai Jinfu was not present. When he learned that Daming Royal Bank was officially opened, he guessed that Shangyuan County, adjacent to the capital, would also have a new bank, so he came to Shangyuan County to learn about the situation.

Bai Jinfu said: "You are my right-hand man, Mr. Bai. Now that I have come to Shangyuan, I want to ask you what you think about the bank."

"Boss, I have a bold idea. Since the royal family can open a bank, can we follow suit, leave Zhili, and go to the prosperous place in the south to open a private bank?"

Gao Lin asked cautiously and tentatively.

Bai Jinfu frowned and said, "It's inappropriate, it's hugely inappropriate!"

"The imperial court has not explicitly prohibited private banks from opening banks, so why does the boss think it's inappropriate?"

Gao Lin was a little surprised by Bai Jinfu's reaction, so he asked in a low voice.

In his mind, Bai Jinfu has always been a person who is extremely sensitive to the money business. He is courageous and enterprising, otherwise he would not leave a bank store to an outsider like him.

Because Gao Lin and Bai Jinfu have neither blood nor relatives, but a simple employment relationship.

A few years ago, he was a clerk recruited by Bai Jinfu. Because he was smart, kind, and honest, he was appreciated by Bai Jinfu and was entrusted with important tasks. After training, he became the second shopkeeper in his own right.

"Why do you think the imperial court did not explicitly prohibit private banks from opening banks?"

Bai Jinfu did not answer Gao Lin's question directly, but asked the latter with a rhetorical question.

Gao Lin was immediately stopped by the question, and the next moment he lowered his head and fell into deep thought.

Seeing that Gao Lin was thinking hard and couldn't figure out the key points, Bai Jinfu said bluntly: "If I ask someone to open a bank and only handle deposits and loans, can you estimate how much financial support is needed?"

"This -" Gao Lin couldn't answer.

Bai Jinfu asked: "The customer deposits the money in the bank, and the bank gives interest on the deposit. Where does the interest on the deposit come from?"

PS: Next update, try to write it before one o'clock in the morning.

(End of this chapter)