Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Tu Wenfu's actions in the bank soon affected the capital.

He summoned together all the financial practitioners including money houses, pawn shops, and silver shops in the capital to hold industry meetings.

This year, many industries have experienced this scene——

The newspaper copying business, coal burning business, tailoring business and other industries were all incorporated by people sent by the inner court.

Many practitioners in Beijing are both happy and afraid of this.

The good news is that these industries that were incorporated into the inner court have ushered in great development, and many of the previous practitioners have earned a lot of money.

The fear is the same because it means a major reshuffle in the industry.

Especially in the pawn industry, many people who are notorious for Honda Rishi are worried that the inner court will covet the money.

Shuntian Bank had been in operation for more than a year, and had come into frequent conflicts with money houses and silver shops. Even pawnshops were affected by mortgage loans, and their business suffered great losses.

So these people are worried that the inner court will use force to recruit them as a whole -

Just like Buddhist temples, they are now prohibited from engaging in the financial industry.

Some people have been thinking about whether they should let the person behind the scenes come forward and talk to the inner court officials.

However, Tu Wenfu had no intention of recruiting them because he got a better solution from the emperor.

So, after the opening, he introduced to these businessmen:

"I have also invited the Minister of the Imperial Household to attend this meeting."

"Dong Siqing is also in charge of the Ministry of Revenue Bank. He will read out the Ministry of Revenue policy first."

Dong Yingju endured the discomfort and said to these businessmen:
"The Ministry of Revenue has issued an order that in view of the many incidents involving money houses and pawnshops in recent years, a permission system will be implemented for the financial industry in the future."

“Anyone without a license is prohibited from engaging in the financial industry.”

“I hope you will apply for a license as soon as possible to avoid affecting your business.”

When this order came down, the merchants in the field immediately started talking about it.

Because the entry system of the financial industry will obviously affect them.

However, given the entry system implemented by the copying business, most of those who were originally engaged in this industry became rich.

Therefore, their resistance is not strong, and many people even look forward to it.

Some people took the initiative to ask whether we should set up a financial association like the Newspaper Association and elect the president and directors from among them?
Tu Wenfu did not expect these people to be so proactive that they actually wanted to take the initiative to set up an association.

He was planning to talk about this later, as he was worried that these businessmen might object.

But he didn't know that many merchants who had no backing, or whose backing was not strong, were very willing to rely on the inner court.

Those who copy newspapers have set an example. Not only have they made money, but they have also gained the right to speak in the industry.

Nowadays, many newspaper practitioners can visit the homes of scholars and officials and attend various gatherings.

Their current status has improved by several times compared to before.

Some newspapers even obtained investment from the imperial court. As long as this cooperation could continue and the newspaper did not suffer continuous losses and go bankrupt, it could be said that they had a family business that could be passed down from generation to generation.

Therefore, most of the businessmen present were looking forward to it, and even wanted to have a say in the industry like the president and directors of the Newspaper Association.

Tu Wenfu reacted quickly. Seeing this situation, he began to take action. He pretended to think for a while and said to these financial businessmen:
"The Ming Financial Association must be established."

"But whether you can join the association depends on whether you can get a license."

“The financial industry is also a public service industry and needs to be regulated.”

"Because it involves people's livelihood, the supervision should be stricter."

"You should first listen to Dong Siqing's request and complete the corresponding rectification."

He winked at Dong Yingju, who then explained the Ministry of Revenue's regulations one by one:

“First, each business must be standardized.”

"According to the licenses you have, you can engage in money exchange, deposits, loans, pawning, leasing, insurance and other businesses, and you may not cross the line at will."

No one has any objection to this, and it can even reduce competition.

It is not possible that some pawnshops have been open and started to operate as silver shops.

Dong Yingju saw this and continued:

"Business must be done with integrity, and the exchange of gold, silver and coins in the future must also have standards."

“You can’t set prices arbitrarily and cheat people who exchange money.”

"And when you find privately minted copper coins, fake gold, or fake silver, you must report it to the Weiwei Temple in a timely manner to combat financial crimes."

This requirement is a bit strict. After a group of businessmen discussed it, Huang Jianbai, who is quite famous in the money exchange industry, said:
"The prices of gold, silver and copper coins have always fluctuated greatly."

"Gold has pure gold and pure gold, silver has fine silver and pure silver, and copper coins have different weights. How do we determine the price?"

Dong Yingju did not answer this question. Tu Wenfu smiled and said to them:

"It is precisely because of this situation that the Royal Assets Commission plans to open a precious metals exchange."

“To regulate the bulk transactions of precious metals such as gold and silver and to fix their prices.”

"Small-amount exchanges between banks, silver shops and customers should refer to the exchange prices and should not fluctuate too much to deceive customers."

"The silver in the exchange can be set at 925 standard silver, with a silver content of 92.5 percent."

"Or it can be classified as pure silver, with a silver content of 99 percent, and treated as pure silver."

"Gold is considered pure gold if it contains more than 99 percent gold. If it can reach 999 percent, it can be called 1000-pure gold."

This standard shocked many merchants because it was difficult for many shops to refine such high-purity gold and silver. Most shops were only capable of refining 925% standard silver.

In fact, this was also Zhu Youjian's intention, which was to control the gold market by mastering the gold refining process and concentrate the gold of the Ming Dynasty in the inner court as much as possible.

After all, he knew that gold would become more valuable and silver would become cheaper, the output of silver would become higher and higher, and gold would become more and more valuable.

Therefore, the inner court’s reserves should of course be mainly gold, rather than the silver that is used more at this time.

In fact, if gold at that time could not meet the commercial needs of the Ming Dynasty, he would have wanted to establish the gold standard now.

However, the gold production was too small, and all the gold in the world might not be able to meet the Ming Dynasty’s commodity trading needs.

Only the larger output of silver can barely meet this requirement.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian can only temporarily maintain the current dual or even triple standard of the Ming Dynasty.

Gold, silver, and copper coins can all be used as legal tender.

In the current Ming Dynasty, silver is the main currency, and copper coins are used as a supplement. Gold can also be used, but it is less common.

When the precious metals exchange is opened, the value of gold and silver will be temporarily determined in copper coins.

In the future, the value of other metals may be determined based on gold and silver.

But there is also a problem, that is, the casting quality of copper coins in different periods varies.

Some were so exquisite that people were reluctant to use them, while others were extremely crude. When Wei Zhongxian was in power, he minted small coins that weighed only seven cents and contained less than 30% copper.

When this kind of money circulates in the hands of the people, they will be eager to spend it. In order to avoid the currency becoming worthless, it may rot in their hands. Therefore, bad money driving out good money is an unsolvable problem. The people will take practical actions to make bad money circulate in the market.

Some businessmen raised this question, and Tu Wenfu said:

"Your Majesty has already determined that the Chongzhen Tongbao weighs one qian, which is 3.75 grams."

"Any amount between three grams and four and a half grams is considered one penny."

"You should also be careful when you are doing business. Collect the coins that do not meet the standards and have them recast by the Baoyuan Bureau."

The weight of copper coins fluctuates, which is an inevitable problem when minting coins nowadays.

Zhu Youjian has ordered craftsmen to improve their craftsmanship and try to keep the weight of the coins minted at 3.75 grams to reduce the error range.

At the same time, in order to protect his brother's reputation, he had to clean up the bad money minted by Wei Zhongxian, and stipulated that as long as the money during the Tianqi period was confirmed to be minted by the court, it would be treated at the corresponding face value.

People could use the Tianqi Tongbao to exchange for the newly minted Chongzhen Tongbao.

It can also be exchanged for other coins such as ten coins.

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian had to feel fortunate, because the worst quality ten-cent coins during the Tianqi period were only minted for three years. Moreover, they were recycled during the Tianqi period, and most of them have been recycled now.

Otherwise he would have to pay a large sum of money to recover the bad money.

These were all necessary expenses to maintain the court's credit, and were also conveyed to financial industry practitioners by Tu Wenfu as court policy.

All the owners of banks and silver shops are well aware of this.

At this point they heard that this seemed to be their chance.

Because the weight of coins during the Tianqi period fluctuated from seven cents to one cent and three cents.

The current emperor has set the weight at three to four and a half grams, and the floating range seems to be smaller.

Therefore, some people have been thinking about how to use this information for arbitrage and purchase inferior coins from the Tianqi period from the public at a lower price.

However, Zhu Youjian did not give them this opportunity. Dong Yingju quickly announced that all shops must accept money of corresponding denominations in accordance with the court's regulations.

Otherwise, it would be a violation of the Ministry of Household Affairs' policy and the business license would be revoked.

He also proposed the idea of ​​deposit reserves, requiring all shops engaged in deposit and loan business to pay deposit reserves:

"In recent years, it has become common for banks and pawnshops to run away with the money, and many people have suffered losses."

"In order to prevent the depositors and pawners from having their money swept away, all shops engaged in deposit, loan and pawn business must pay a deposit."

"Among them, deposit and loan businesses have to pay more, which is called deposit reserve. Thirty percent of the savings must be paid to the Ministry of Revenue Bank, which is supervised by the Ministry of Revenue Bank."

This regulation immediately caused an uproar among the businessmen.

Because they all suspected that the court wanted to take their money.

After paying the 30% reserve fund, when can I get it back?
Therefore, this policy was almost unanimously opposed, especially by those who relied on their backers, who opposed the policy in person.

When Tu Wenfu saw this scene, he felt fortunate that he was not the one who proposed this policy.

Otherwise, he would be the one being opposed now.

However, at this time, Dong Yingju made the decision that an official should have.

He had always looked down on these businessmen and felt that it was beneath his dignity as a minister to negotiate with them.

Seeing that these merchants were not obedient, he immediately said firmly:
“Those who do not pay deposit reserves are not allowed to engage in deposit and loan business, and their licenses will not give them the right to engage in deposit and loan business.”

"The same goes for the pawn shop's security deposit. If you don't pay it, you won't have a license."

Then he walked away, leaving these businessmen hanging there.

The group of businessmen became even more noisy when they saw this. They didn't expect that Dong Yingju, an official who was punished years ago, would be so tough in front of them.

Some people have already thought about giving gifts to familiar officials in the Ministry of Justice to ask them to impeach Dong Yingju and get him removed from office.

It can be said that the weight of these shopkeepers and bosses in the financial industry is completely different from that of the newspaper copyists. They are not so afraid of the court officials.

If the officials lack confidence, they will most likely give in when faced with their threats.

However, Tu Wenfu, the eunuch, was obviously not among them.

His status depends entirely on the emperor's decision.

Moreover, his approach in Nanjing was much more radical than this. How could he take these businessmen seriously?

If the emperor had not been concerned about his reputation and wanted to peacefully incorporate the financial industry, he might have directly asked the Embroidered Uniform Guard to notify these businessmen.

Facing these people's shouting, Tu Wenfu said with a half-smile:
"If you are not willing, then only the banks of the inner court and the imperial court can obtain the licenses."

"Perhaps the Imperial Household Department will also open some pawnshops to avoid the inconvenience of pawning in the capital."

This made many clamoring businessmen suddenly quiet down.

Because they knew that Tu Wenfu would definitely do such a thing.

When he was in Nanjing, he forced the Yingtian Bank to be promoted throughout Southern Zhili.

Now the financial industry in the south is completely dominated by Yingtian Bank. Many money houses and pawnshops have been squeezed out and can no longer survive.

The abduction of funds mentioned by Dong Yingju before mostly occurred in the south. Seeing that their business was in trouble, some money houses and silver shops absconded with the funds.

The Shuntian Bank in Beijing was far less domineering. Apart from business for the inner court and the imperial court, it basically did not expand externally.

That's why they can gather here now to discuss the financial industry.

After calming these people down, Tu Wenfu said to them:
"If you can accept this rule, I can guarantee that the Ministry of Revenue Bank will not compete with you for business."

"It can even be clearly stated that the Ministry of Finance Bank is not responsible for commercial operations, but only for the supervision of the financial industry."

"Only the bank in the inner court has the right to operate."

This promise slightly comforted the merchants present.

Because if the Ministry of Revenue Bank operated its business in a different way, it might be like the Yingtian Bank in the south, where they would be run out of money and unable to survive.

However, some people are still worried about Yingtian Bank and asked:
"I wonder if Yingtian Bank will have any restrictions?"

"Or do we have to pay a reserve requirement like we do?"

Tu Wenfu squinted at this person, but said without hesitation:
"The banks in the inner court must also operate according to the court's policies and pay reserves to the Ministry of Revenue Bank."

"And I can also promise you that the Inner Court Bank will not engage in small deposit and loan business. Those will be left to you."

"All you need to do is abide by the court's policies and pay taxes according to the law."

Knowing clearly what the emperor's purpose was, Tu Wenfu made a guarantee on the spot.

Although this will require the inner court bank to pay a sum of money, after the emperor sets an example, it will force the financial industry to pay the so-called deposit.

This would allow the Ministry of Revenue to quickly obtain a sum of money as a reserve military expenditure for this year's war.

It can be said that the emperor asked him to hold a meeting for this very reason.

Prepare a sum of money for the imperial court. (End of this chapter)