Smuggling Daming

Zhou Zhong put forward the idea of ​​establishing the Daming Central Bank, which was quickly approved by everyone. This is not because everyone thinks that the bank will really regulate the national economy as Zhou Zhong said, but because they think that the establishment of a central bank will reorganize the economy. Banks across the country, in this way, can realize the previous idea of ​​uniformly distributing salaries to officials, and the investment cost is not high, which is also beneficial to the Ming court.

In addition, although the original purpose of the establishment of the bank was to rectify the administration of officials, this action was very concealed. Except for a few of their insiders, it was impossible for anyone else to think that the establishment of the bank would actually be the beginning of the rectification of officials. After establishing the bank, a bank network all over the country will be formed. At that time, part of Daming's finances will be handed over to the bank. At that time, it will not be so easy for officials to get money from the bank.

A few days later, the matter of establishing the Daming Central Bank was brought up in court, and it was proposed by Zhou Zhong himself, which made the cabinet attach great importance to it. Of course, Wang Qiong and Jiao Fang agreed very much. As for Yang Tinghe and Liang Chu , Liu Zhong, after researching, they also felt that Daming's bank should be regulated. This matter can be regarded as benefiting the country and the people, so they all agreed in the end, and mobilized a group of people from the Ministry of Households and other departments to be responsible for Formation of a central bank.

Because this matter was proposed by Zhou Zhong, and in this era, no one understands the responsibilities of the central bank better than him, so Zhou Zhong personally presided over the establishment of the central bank. As for the matter of the military academy, Zhou Zhong Then hand it over to the old Duke Xu Chu again.Of course.It is also impossible for Zhou Zhong to manage the bank all the time.Wait until the central bank gets on the right track.He will select a suitable person from among the subordinate officials to serve as the president of the bank.

The office location of the Central Bank has also been decided, which is located near the Bell and Drum Tower in the north of the Forbidden City, which was originally the bustling area of ​​Beijing. Building the Central Bank there also shows that the imperial court attaches importance to it. With Zhou Zhong, the supervisor, personally sitting in charge, news about the central bank had spread throughout the capital in just a few days.

Most concerned with the establishment of a central bank.Naturally, the proprietors of the big banks must be counted. Beijing is the political and economic center of Ming Dynasty, so all the banks across the country have set up branches in the capital. When these branches get the news from the central bank, they immediately report to themselves The proprietor behind him, as a result, within a few days, well-known bank proprietors across the country rushed to the capital from all over the country, trying their best to inquire about the Central Bank.

What is important to Zhou is this effect. He even spread the news of the central bank on purpose, in order to let the owners of money houses from all over the country gather in the capital.He has also been paying attention to this matter in secret, until the proprietors of the fourteen big banks across the country have rushed to the capital.Zhou Zhong immediately asked people to gather all the proprietors of these banks, and he wanted to hold a meeting for these people in person.

The headquarters of the central bank is still under construction, so Zhou Zhong temporarily found a house near the Bell and Drum Tower as the office of the central bank. Today he called fourteen bank proprietors here for a meeting, and fourteen people They all came as quickly as possible. After all, no matter Zhou Zhong's identity or the matter about the central bank, they dared not neglect anything.

In the living room, Zhou Zhong sat at the head, and fourteen bank proprietors sat on both sides. The fourteen proprietors were old and young, but everyone's eyes were shrewd. One party, if they were not smart enough, they would have been swallowed alive long ago.

Seeing that all the people had arrived, Zhou Zhong did not speak in a hurry, but began to look at these financial overlords of Ming Dynasty. Now these people are all anxious, and they seem to want to know what the central bank is doing. Yes, what effect does it have on them?It's just because Zhou Zhong's status is too high, and they are all lowly businessmen, so no one dared to ask.

"Okay, everyone must have heard something about the central bank. This time I called you here to give you a breath first, so that you can get ready!" Zhou Zhong said, waving his hand, and a person next to him The young officials brought up a tray with fourteen brochures, one for each.

"What you hold in your hands is the purpose and responsibilities of the establishment of the central bank, as well as the requirements for you. As long as you can abide by the above rules and regulations, then you will be able to have greater development in the future. It all depends on whether you can seize the opportunity. " Zhou Zhong said with a smile, he is too tall, and it is impossible to really discuss matters related to the bank with these businessmen, so he simply wrote down all the responsibilities of the central bank on paper and let them see for themselves. If you have any objections, you can also raise them in person.

After hearing Zhou Zhong's words, the fourteen businessmen immediately opened the brochure and looked at it seriously. At the beginning, they all expressed panic, because at the beginning it was the responsibility of the central bank, and one of them was to supervise the Ming Dynasty. All the banks and banks in the territory are like a shackle to them.However, when they saw the following content, each of them showed an excited look on their faces, because as long as they pass the imperial court's certification, they can issue unified bills in the future, that is to say, their silver bills can be issued by the imperial court everywhere. The certified bank exchange is a huge opportunity and challenge for all of them. If the operation is good, it can develop rapidly and spread the semicolons all over the country. If the operation is wrong, the scale may become larger and larger in the future. The smaller, even disqualified by the court.

"My lord, I have finished reading the statutes of the central bank, but there is one thing I don't understand. I don't know if I should say it or not?" A middle-aged man with a chubby face was the first to stand up and said.

"Talk!" Zhou Zhong glanced at him, and then said lightly, he remembered that these middle-aged people were named Xia Qiu, and they were the proprietors of money houses in the south of Guangdong. Semicolon, because he is the farthest away from the capital, so this time he will be the latest.

"Yes!" Xia Qiu was talking to the prince of Daming for the first time, and the mental pressure was not insignificant. He secretly wiped his sweat and said, "My lord, the regulations say that in the future, all banks need to pay Tax, but I don’t know how to pay this tax, and where should I pay it?”

Hearing this question, the others also nodded. They also discovered this problem. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, merchants generally only need to pay one-twentieth of the value of the goods to pay taxes, but the banks they run are not There are no commodities, so from a legal point of view, there is no need to pay taxes, but sometimes some joints need to be opened up, so they often bear heavy taxes everywhere, and most of these taxes paid go into the pockets of magistrates .

When Zhou Zhong heard this question, he smiled and said: "This tax issue is not mentioned in detail in the charter. I will give you a thorough explanation here. In the future, all certified banks will welcome you in spring and autumn every year." Come to the central bank for a financial review, and after checking out your income for half a year, you need to take out a quarter of your net income to pay taxes."

As soon as Zhou Zhong said this, the businessmen like Xia Qiu were shocked and angry. Although they seem to spend a lot of money in running the bank, but because of the embarrassment of the local officials, they have to bear a rather heavy tax. If a quarter of the income is paid It is better to kill them with one knife for them to pay taxes.It's just that although they were angry, they didn't dare to act presumptuously in front of Zhou Zhong. After all, this is Daming's prison prince, he is the biggest besides the emperor. If Zhou Zhong is angered, he only needs to move his little finger to Let them go bankrupt.

Of course Zhou Zhong knew the difficulties of these money owners, and he continued to say slowly: "Although a quarter of the income is quite a lot, the money is a huge profiteering industry. I am afraid that you know this better than anyone else. The king also assures you that you will not have to pay taxes to any yamen except for the annual spring and autumn taxes, that is to say, in the future, your money houses will not be controlled by any local government except for being responsible to the central bank!"

"Wow~" Zhou Zhong's words came out, especially the last sentence that no need to pay other taxes, which surprised and delighted everyone present. If their banks want to expand, they must give local officials enough benefits , But those officials are all vampires, and they all want to suck all the blood from the bank, so in order to feed those officials, the price paid by the bank every year is more than double the quarter of the net income.

"My lord, how can you ensure that the local officials will not make things difficult for us in the future? After all, the county officials are not as good as the current ones. For example, we are going to Hangzhou to open a branch. If the local officials deliberately make things difficult, we have nothing to do." Another old man The proprietor of the bank said, it's not that he doesn't believe in Zhou Zhong, but that he doesn't believe in corrupt officials everywhere in Ming Dynasty.

Regarding the old man's question, Zhou Zhong was also well prepared. He smiled again and said: "This question is not difficult. If you want to open a semicolon in the future, you must first apply to the Central Bank. At the time of opening, the central bank will send officials to supervise. If there are officials who make things difficult for you, you can hand it over to the officials of the central bank. If there are local officials who dare to make things difficult for you, you can also directly report to the central bank. There is a censor to investigate, if the investigation is true, then the local officials will be dismissed from office at the least, and may even be a capital crime at the worst, are you satisfied with this?" (To be continued...)