Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Wang Chengen was one of the eunuchs who was promoted the fastest after Zhu Youjian ascended the throne.

He is under the name of Liu Liangxiang and previously worked in an armor factory. Liu Liangxiang was a confidant of Wang Cairen, the biological mother of Emperor Tianqi. Wang Cairen's last words when he died were written by Liu Liangxiang.

With this relationship, Liu Liangxiang was very feared. He was worried that Emperor Tianqi would reuse this eunuch after he remembered him.

Therefore, in the first year of Tianqi, after Wei Zhongxian gained power, he falsely sent Liu Liangxiang to Fengyang and killed him in other places.

Wang Chengen was under the name of Liu Liangxiang, so he was implicated. He had been working in the armor factory and had difficulty getting promoted.

It wasn't until Zhu Youjian ascended to power that he was promoted.

However, Wei Zhongxian was still there at that time, and Zhu Youjian did not promote him. Instead, he was sent to Zhangjiakou to be responsible for opening Shuntian Bank and Huangdian there.

After Wang Chengen got this opportunity, he worked hard. He meticulously implemented the emperor's requirements and successfully opened Sunchon Bank and Huangdian.

Today, not only is the Chahan tribe's trade completely controlled by Huangdian, it also accounts for most of it. Especially for trade quotas, they all have to go through Huangdian.

According to rough calculations, most of the royalties distributed by the imperial court to the Shuntian nobles were earned back through the imperial shop. These proceeds were directly charged into the internal treasury, enhancing the strength of the emperor Zhu Youjian.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian is basically satisfied with Wang Chengen's performance in Zhangjiakou.

But for Sunchon Bank, I feel that it has not fully realized its potential.

"Baohe Sixth Store has been open for a long time, and there is a long history of mutual trade between the Ming Dynasty and the grassland tribes. It is not surprising that Wang Chengen can do a good job in the imperial store as long as he works hard." 』

“But as for Sunchon Bank, he didn’t do so well. 』

When he opened Sunchon Bank, Zhu Youjian wanted it to become an institution that provided financial services. Especially when you are short of money, you must be able to embezzle money from it.

But Wang Chengen didn't have much idea about this, and he treated it more like a yamen. Now it relies entirely on policies for the exchange of gold and silver.

Zhu Youjian was not satisfied with this. After learning more about the affairs of the Internal Affairs Bureau, he focused on asking about Sunchon Bank:

"In addition to various yamen and officials, how many businesses and individuals have opened accounts at Sunchon Bank now?"

"How many deposits does Sunchon Bank have? How many assets can it lend?"

Wang Chengen's energy was no longer focused on business and personal matters. After returning to the capital, he still handled accounts for yamen and officials. I don't bother to pay attention to businesses or individuals at all. I think it is adding more tasks and wasting Sunchon Bank's manpower.

So after hearing the emperor's inquiry, he felt a little nervous and said:

"The accounts of various yamen and officials in the capital have now been established."

“Currently, all allocations to various yamen and salaries of officials in the capital are distributed through Sunchon Bank.”

"There are hundreds of thousands of silver deposits, but they all have their uses."

Hearing this, Zhu Youjian frowned and heard what Wang Chengen meant, which was that it was difficult to lend money.

Except for the appropriations from the court, few merchants deposited their money in Sunchon Bank.

This let him know that Wang Chengen might be loyal in his work, but he really lacked some insight when it came to finance.

So in his mind, he already had the idea of ​​​​changing someone to take charge of the bank.

But this is not something that can be determined in a short while. Now that he has not found a suitable talent, he can only let Wang Chengen continue to be in charge.

He will even continue to give Sunchon Bank policies to promote its development:

"When merchants in Zhangjiakou do business with grassland tribes, how many of them go through Shuntian Bank?"

"What are their reviews? Does it feel more convenient?"

Wang Chengen felt that he was doing well and replied:
"His Majesty stipulated that mutual market transactions must be transferred through Sunchon Bank. Those people were a little resistant at first, but later found it more convenient."

"So now when trading on the mutual market, most of them go through Sunchon Bank."

"Only some private transactions will be done by oneself."

Zhu Youjian nodded at this and felt that the effect was pretty good. Although Wang Chengen is somewhat deficient in flexibility, he can still execute it when there are clear orders.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian decided to give direct instructions and said:

"After the abolition of compulsory purchase by merchants, how will we purchase the things used in the palace now?"

"How is the imperial court's Commerce Department doing in its unified procurement?"

Wang Chengen was very careful now, because whether it was purchasing or purchasing, there was a lot of oil and water in it. So he didn't dare to say more, and said with a quick glance:
"Most of the purchases are still from the previous shops, but I just paid a little more."

"Businessmen in the capital all say that the emperor cares about the suffering of the people and that this is virtuous government!"

The abolition of merchants and the prohibition of compulsory purchases won Zhu Youjian a lot of public support.

This is the reason why the business people in the capital, although dissatisfied with the health fees charged by the Weiwei Department, did not vigorously resist——

In fact, the emperor has already reduced their burden, and the little health fee collected by the Weiwei Office is nothing at all.

What's more, the health team has also done a good job, and the capital is indeed clean.

Now Wang Chengen is flattering this point, saying it is the emperor's virtuous government.

Zhu Youjian has heard these things so much that he has become immune and said:
"Then have you ever thought about moving the Zhangjiakou system to the capital?"

"All purchase transactions go through Sunchon Bank. After the transaction is completed, the money is transferred to the account."

He had never thought about this. After hearing this, Wang Chengen realized why the emperor was dissatisfied with him:
Why have I never thought of such a simple thing? It took the emperor to propose it before he thought of it.

So in his heart, he was already scolding himself secretly: He blamed himself for being too stupid for not thinking of this.

Now after the emperor proposed it, Wang Chengen immediately said:
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true. I will set up accounts for all merchants according to the system in Zhangjiakou."

"For purchases in the future palace, money is transferred directly from the account, and no one else can touch it."

Zhu Youjian saw that he could wake up so quickly and nodded slightly. He thought it would be good to have such a loyal person in the early stage of the bank's development, and added:
“Supervision must be strengthened from all aspects regarding matters involving the upper and lower levels.”

“The most important thing is to set up an accounting period.”

"When to pay the deposit, when to pay the first bill, and when to pay the full amount, it must be stated when signing the contract, and the funds will be transferred before the agreed date according to the contract." "In this way, there will be no money allocated by the palace for purchasing. , the merchant didn’t receive anything.”

"If the money in the palace cannot be turned over for a while, the account period can be extended when signing the contract and the full payment can be postponed."

This is a commonly used method in later generations. Many companies rely on revolving funds during the account period.

Zhu Youjian has not yet encountered a time when the internal treasury is out of money, but he plans to establish such a system in advance.

In this way, when the inner treasury is short of money, it can still be purchased, so that it will not be unable to buy even the supplies needed by the palace.

Although Wang Chengen did not think of this, after the emperor proposed the account period, he implemented it without hesitation and praised:
"His Majesty is so considerate of those merchants. When they find out, they will definitely shed tears of gratitude."

It is believed that the emperor set up this system to prevent someone in the palace from defaulting on his accounts.

This matter is obviously beneficial to merchants, so Wang Chengen believes that merchants in the capital will definitely agree.

His judgment made Zhu Youjian more courageous. Thinking about some of the purchasing and supply chain management knowledge he knew, Zhu Youjian said:
"What the palace needs can be produced by the workshops and factories of the inner palace supervisor and Shaofu Temple. Try to produce it yourself and don't bother outsiders."

"If we can't produce and need to purchase, then we will invite public bidding to determine the supplier."

"There must be at least two suppliers of each type of goods. The top two can be divided according to the amount, or the top three can be divided 62.2. In case one company has problems, there will be no substitute."

"Those who directly provide products are called first-tier suppliers. Those who provide raw materials to the first-tier suppliers are called second-tier suppliers. And then there are the third-tier suppliers."

"For these three levels of suppliers, the Imperial Household Supervisor must send people to review them to prevent anyone from passing them off as good or selling toxic and harmful items into the palace."

"When purchasing raw materials for the workshops overseen by the House of Representatives, they must also purchase them from vetted suppliers to prevent problems."

"The same goes for Shaofu Temple, and the Department of Commerce. Let them give priority to purchasing from palace suppliers and use reliable merchants."

As he said this, he felt that there were too many things and asked Wang Chengen:
"The Internal Affairs Supervisor will set up a procurement office to be responsible for review matters."

"And evaluate the suppliers and give them a score based on quality, price, delivery time, intrauterine use evaluation, etc."

"Those with high scores can increase their purchase amount in the next year. Those with low scores are required to make corrections or even be disqualified."

He talked a lot eloquently and gave specific instructions on the palace's procurement of supplies.

There was so much involved that Wang Chengen was a little confused for a while, but he heard one thing, that is, the emperor wanted to manage the suppliers, unlike before, where he could purchase at will.

This will inevitably affect some people's profiteering and touch the interests of many people.

But Wang Chengen couldn't care about these people. He agreed to the emperor's order and planned to carry it out resolutely——

After all, the reason why he can now become the imperial eunuch is because of his loyalty. How could he be promoted so quickly without the emperor's support?

Seeing this scene, Zhu Youjian felt very satisfied. This is also the reason why Wang Chengen is able to hold the position of imperial eunuch even though his talents are slightly lacking. He needs a loyal person to help him manage his money and execute various orders.

Asking Wang Chengen to copy what he just said from the daily notes, Zhu Youjian asked again:

"How's the auction house going?"

This was an idea he had years ago and something he asked Wang Chengen to do after he returned to Beijing. Wang Chengen immediately said after hearing this:

"The place has been selected and the auctioneer has been trained according to His Majesty's instructions."

"Only after the trial, the auction can begin."

The spring auction was held after the examination, which was approved by Zhu You. Take advantage of the time when the people are gathered together and sell things to them.

According to the Ming Dynasty's system, most of the candidates were wealthy people. The opportunity to gather these high-quality customers was very rare.

However, since the auction was held for the first time, the bidders did not know and most likely would not bring much cash, so Zhu Youjian said:
"First hold a tender there and decide on this year's palace supplier."

"The safety of things in the palace is paramount. In order to prevent problems, each supplier must pay a deposit and deposit at least a certain amount of money in Sunchon Bank."

"These funds must be stored for an agreed period of time. During this period, part of them can be misappropriated to provide loans to the children so that they can participate in the auction."

This kind of thing is completely empty handed. Zhu Youjian plans to lend money to Juzi without paying a penny.

But Wang Chengen didn't think there was anything wrong, but asked:
"What's the interest rate on the loan? Is it the same as on the prairie?"

"What did those people use as collateral? How to recover the loan?"

He once borrowed money from the prairie aristocrats in Zhangjiakou, at a monthly interest rate of 1% and with the title and salary as collateral. Nowadays, there are so many moves in the capital, so obviously this cannot be the case.

After Zhu Youjian thought about it, he said:

"As long as a candidate in Beijing has two fellow candidates as guarantees, he is allowed to borrow one hundred taels with a monthly interest of 1% and a maximum of three years to repay the loan."

"Those who pass the examination are quasi-Jinshi. They are allowed to borrow a thousand taels, which can be repaid later with their salary."

"This will also allow some poor Jinshi to have travel expenses, so that they will not have no money to take office."

This is a realistic consideration and also Zhu Youjian's measure to reduce corruption.

Beijing debt is a big problem for poor officials. After being admitted as Jinshi, they need funds for socializing with fellow students and teachers. If they are selected as foreign officials, they also need travel expenses to take office.

In order to collect the money, some Jinshi had to borrow money. Some people in the capital have spotted this market and specialize in lending money to new scholars at high interest rates. The interest rate is usually above 3% per month. Not only is compound interest calculated once in three months, there is also a discount on the actual money received——

If you borrow one thousand taels of silver, you can usually only get eight, nine hundred taels or even two or three hundred taels.

The creditors and guarantors of the loan even went to the office with the officials and forced the officials to repay the money when they arrived. These newly appointed officials had no choice but to take bribes in order to repay their loans.

During the Tianqi period, Zou Yuanbiao, the censor of Zuodu and one of the three monarchs of the Donglin Party, once lamented: Jinshi borrowed thousands of taels of silver to go to Beijing to take office. It is not ordinary to become an innocent official.

After Zhu Youjian understood this phenomenon, he planned to take over this business. Prevent these Jinshi from being exploited, and at the same time allow Sunchon Bank to obtain high-quality customers. Let some conscientious officials not be forced to take bribes.

Wang Chengen knew something about Beijing Debt and knew that the emperor's approach infringed on the interests of many powerful people involved in this business. But as a eunuch in the palace, he was not afraid of these. The only thing he was worried about was whether the deposit deposited by the supplier in Sunchon Bank was enough to lend money to the jurenjinshi.

Therefore, he suggested that it should only be borrowed for those who have passed the examination, and that it would be 100 taels for ordinary candidates. It would depend on the specific situation at that time. After all, there are too many candidates, far more than Jinshi.

Zhu Youjian listened to his considerations and nodded slightly. I think it's better to gain the best customer, Jinshi, first, and put Juren aside first. Perhaps after Sunchon Bank links up with Yingcheon Bank and Sihai Bank to facilitate remittance and repayment, it will be more suitable to lend money to Juren.

Nowadays, Jinshi is the most important thing. Taking the admission of about 600 Jinshi in this subject, even if one tenth of them borrows a thousand taels, it will cost 60,000 taels of silver. The business cannot be expanded too fast to avoid insufficient funds. (End of chapter)