Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 797 Financial Market ([-])

In February, the east bank countryside has just entered the summer harvest season. Thanks to Tianzun for his care, thanks to the huge rural water conservancy facilities built by the government, and thanks to the northern botanical garden and the northern seed company for the excellent seeds. The total grain output of the east bank this year is on the basis of last year. achieved some growth.The three-level grain depot network established by the national reserve grain depot in various regions, counties, and townships has also begun to operate at high speed. They took the brand-new silver dollars just stamped and manufactured by Dayuhe No. [-] Mint, and opened their hands to buy farmers. Various grains in hand: wheat (accounting for [-]% of the total), corn, soybeans (accounting for [-]%), and a small amount of sweet potatoes and potatoes-these miscellaneous grains will be pulled back by the state-owned Dafeng Food Company to make vermicelli.

Ordinary farmers, the national grain reserve depot, and the Northwest Reclamation Bank, which provided financial services for the two, constituted the bottom part of the east coast economy, that is, the vast rural economy.This part of the economy is dominated by agricultural activities and is relatively localized. Although it has some characteristics of commercial agriculture, it is still a socio-economic system in the pre-capitalist era on the whole.

On the upper level of the East Coast economy, there is a highly capitalist social and economic system composed of the state and a small amount of private capital.The specific manifestation is that the upper class produces all kinds of daily necessities and means of production, and monopolizes the trade of agricultural products. The bottom natural economy of the entire rural area is completely subordinate to the upper class capitalist economy.

There is no clear distinction between the bottom economy and the top economy, but the difference is still huge. It is reflected in the currency, that is, there is a huge difference in the currency of the same industry between the two.In the lower-level rural economy, copper coins and silver coins of various denominations are more common, and paper-based one-year and two-year bank acceptances are rare, and the degree of popular recognition is not very high; but in the upper-level industrial economy, The most common ones are of course bank acceptances of various denominations (many of which are large denominations). These drafts are circulated between enterprises and individuals and are constantly endorsed. On the contrary, coins are rare.

The connection between these two types of currency systems is probably through the export of special products (agricultural products) and trade payments for imported consumer goods, public expenses (taxes, apportionments for water conservancy construction, special defense expenses, etc.) Is the construction site) and other channels to carry out.The institutions between the two are probably the National Grain Reserve Depot, local department stores, the construction team under the Ministry of Communications and the State Railway Administration, and the Northwest Reclamation Bank.

However, with the influx of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, especially some merchants and small landlords who had a small fortune in the original Ming Dynasty, they came to the east bank actively or passively, financial activities in the vast rural areas began to show buds, and gradually developed.At present, there are signs of budding private private finance, mainly in two areas, one is the Xiling area, which is dominated by the so-called "Qingzhou Gang" businessmen in Luocha County; the other is the Nanyazihu ​​area, mainly in Xihu County, a large agricultural county A group of immigrants from Jining, Shandong, is the main group, and the local Ming people call it the "Jining Gang".

After these people entered the east bank with a small amount of gold, silver, jewelry and jade, they gradually took root in the local area, and then opened a mobile grocery store, specifically to avoid the large chain syndicates—the relatively powerful department stores on the east bank. In urban areas, enter the vast hinterland of the countryside, sell various daily necessities to local farmers, and purchase surplus commodities from farmers (mainly grain, occasionally some wool, leather, tallow, etc.).Over time, they have established a very close relationship with the local farmers, and their credibility has also increased.At this time, many peddlers who completed the first step of accumulation (capital accumulation and relationship accumulation) began to transform. They began to lend small loans to some farmers who were in urgent need of money. Shao Yuanyi from Mucaoling Township, Xihu County is like this one person.

Of course, when Shao Yuanyi immigrated to the East Bank, he was penniless and had no original funds.His capital accumulation is all based on part of the patent rights for the invention of aspirin drugs, as well as some high income from practicing medicine and selling medicines, but in essence he is the same as those hawkers, with the same funds, the same network, the same Has a good folk reputation.Their lending comes in various forms, some are cash loans, some are sold on credit, and some of them even operate some bill discounting business, which is amazing to see.

Shao Yuanyi has now set up a small shed in his yard and opened a "financial institution" similar to a pawnshop.Grain, leather, livestock, wood and even chicken, duck and poultry eggs sent by farmers can be pawned here in exchange for the cash they urgently need.According to business regulations, these messy things are difficult to pledge in the Northwest Reclamation Bank, so these farmers can only find rich households in the countryside and obtain funds through underground pawnshops.

In addition to the "pawn shop", Shao Yuanyi also started a pure cash loan business in his study, and it was also the kind of unsecured cash loan that was difficult to get approved by the bank.Since Shao Yuanyi has lived in the countryside all year round, he knows very well who can borrow and who cannot, and whose loans can be recovered and whose loans cannot be recovered at all.After being targeted in this way, the risk of non-performing loans will be greatly reduced, and this is an advantage that large financial institutions such as banks do not have.

"The Northwest Railway Construction Bond issued in 1646?" Sitting in his study, Shao Yuanyi looked at it over and over with a piece of paper in his hand. The "slice of paper" is indeed true. The Ministry of Finance had publicly issued several 10 yuan of five-year and ten-year construction bonds to the whole society before the start of the Northwest Railway. This "slice of paper" should be at that time Purchased, and it is a bearer bond, so many people have changed hands.

"That's right, sir." Sitting opposite Shao Yuanyi were two European men, one of them was older and seemed to have been naturalized in the East Bank for some years, and the other was a young man who came to work in the East Bank, stuttering Chinese Yes, it's not very quick to say, it's this bearded young man who is speaking at this time.

I saw him looking nervously at Shao Yuanyi, speaking in a language that Shao Yuanyi could not understand, and the middle-aged man next to him was responsible for the translation: "This is what Mr. Valentino paid me. Worked in the camp for five full years, and then he paid me twenty silver dollars and such a railway construction bond. I didn't want it at the time, but he was very impatient, and his men threatened me, saying that everyone That's it. But I didn't know that this bond would not be paid until the end of next year. Now Laojunmiao Township is recruiting immigrants for reclamation. You can apply for citizenship for us, and you can also arrange housing mortgage loans for everyone. I missed such a good opportunity, and I don’t know when I will wait until next time..."

By the end, the young man from Scotland was on the verge of tears.Yes, the land reclamation activities organized by the church have always been regarded as excellent opportunities.Not only is there relatively cheap housing, but even the wife has a church to help her find it, which is very cost-effective.Missing this one time not only missed the opportunity to earn money by farming for a year, but also lost the opportunity to obtain these benefits, so these active immigrants could not help being in a hurry.

Speaking of this, the middle-aged man next to him also chimed in and said a few words: "Ferguson has been cutting down trees in the lumberyard for five years. He has been working hard and has never violated any labor discipline. He is really a Very nice young man. Because he used to work in the deep mountains and old forests, he didn’t have much time to learn Chinese, so his oral ability was lacking. But now he spares time to study every night, and he puts his heart into it. Mr. Wang in the village even praised him He said that he was the fastest progressing person in the "Hua Xia" language class. This opportunity is rare, I hope that Dr. Shao can help me, because the bank's loan quota for this month has been used up, so I can't do a mortgage loan. I The family’s money was spent a while ago, otherwise I would have to help little Ferguson.” The middle-aged man is also from Scotland, so he took good care of this young man.

"Well..." Shao Yuanyi pondered for a while, then sighed, and said, "I'm also from here, and I understand that opportunities are rare, so of course I won't miss your future. How about this, young man, I'll give you some discounts this time." The face value of this bond of yours is one hundred yuan, paid on December 1651, 12, with an annual interest of 31%, and the interest is paid on January 4.5 every year. The interest of this year (1) seems to have been taken by your Mr. Valentino Now, then there is one more interest to be paid on this bond. Well, I won’t say more, I think you also understand the true value of this bond..."

After saying this, Shao Shude motioned his wife to take out 92 silver dollars from a wooden safe, counted them and put them into the hands of the young man Ferguson, and said: "Since you choose to die as a railway construction Bonds, according to the rules, pay with a discount of 92, here is [-] yuan in cash, take it, this bond will have nothing to do with you in the future, and all rights and interests will belong to me alone. This is a preferential price, and the convenience of others is the same It’s convenient, and report to Laojunmiao Township as soon as you get the money. It’s already mid-February, and there’s not much time left, go quickly, young man!”

The young man Ferguson carefully counted the 92 silver dollars in his hand and confirmed that they were correct, then smiled gratefully at Shao Yuanyi and said, "I am very grateful, respected Dr. Shao, God will take care of you."

Shao Yuanyi smiled slightly, accepting the other party's gratitude calmly.This business does not bring much profit to him, but as the saying goes, it is convenient for others and convenient for oneself. For private lenders like them, a good reputation is also necessary.This is not only related to others' perception of oneself, but also related to the perception of government officials to them, private microlenders who activate rural markets and promote currency circulation.Once the perception is bad, many things will not work so well in the future.

(End of this chapter)