Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Ancient China's financial industry was not as good as the West. This is purely a stereotype.

Let’s talk about the foreign exchange business first. In the Tang Dynasty, it was called Feiqian, in the Song Dynasty, it was called instant exchange, and in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was called Huiqian. It is also commonly known as ticket number and ticket bank.

Let’s talk specifically about the Ming Dynasty of Zhu and his son. The private financial system continued from the Northern Song Dynasty.

In cities, silver shops also engage in deposit and loan business, as well as gold and silver jewelry business.

For example, Li Bangyan's father was engaged in this kind of thing. He said he was a silversmith, but in fact he belonged to a wealthy family.

In towns, villages and rural areas, there are money-rice shops and money-cloth shops where you can exchange money, rice and cloth, and you can also deposit and borrow money.

When collecting various taxes in the Northern Song Dynasty, local officials deliberately harmed the people. Sometimes they only collected taxes in kind, and sometimes they only collected money. For example, in the summer grain collection, suddenly only silk cloth will be collected this year, and next year it may only collect other items.

In order to pay taxes, ordinary people have to go to Qianmi shop and Qianbu shop to exchange money.

If you can't exchange it in a small town store, haha, you have to go to a designated store in the county to exchange it. Officials and store owners take the opportunity to join forces to make a fortune.

In areas with developed commerce, interest is paid when you save money. Don’t think that you will be charged a custody fee when you save money!

There were also pawnshops, which were called Changshengku and Zhiku in the Song Dynasty.

This thing is so ruthless, it can not only pawn dead things, but also livestock, slaves and other living things.

Moreover, pawnshops also operate deposit and loan businesses.

…

Imperial meeting.

Today we will discuss rectifying the national financial industry.

Important ministers from the cabinet arrived one after another, drinking tea and chatting while waiting for the arrival of the emperor and the prince.

The several-meter-long conference table was empty, and everyone was waiting in the lounge next door.

The lounge is divided into two side rooms, with tables, chairs, benches, and sofa-shaped wooden couches.

"Hey, what is this?"

Qin Hui, who has been promoted to Minister of Industry, touched the fabric on the couch and carefully tasted the feel: "It should be a kind of velvet, but it seems thicker, softer, and warmer."

As soon as these words came out, the important ministers all turned their attention to chairs and couches, and all the furniture that could be sat on was covered with one floor.

Fang Mengqing, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, said: "Zhang Rong (Velvet)."

Everyone went to touch it to experience it, especially the elderly. The more they touched it, the more they liked it.

Cabinet minister Zhao Quan asked: "Where can I buy it? What's the price?"

Fang Mengqing said: "The output is scarce and the price is expensive. There is heavy water vapor in the south, especially in Guangdong and Fujian. Bronze mirrors have to be covered with velvet mirror clothes to prevent moisture. In the past two years, more and more cotton has been planted in Jiangnan, and some people have sold cotton yarn and cotton cloth to Fujian. . The velvet mirror clothes produced in Zhangzhou are the best. After a Zhangzhou craftsman saw the cotton yarn, he suddenly had the idea of ​​using silk and cotton to blend velvet."

"You made this kind of Zhangrong?" Li Hanzhang asked.

"Not bad." Fang Mengqing nodded.

The basic craftsmanship of velvet is very ancient. It began in China at least in the Western Han Dynasty, and in the West it began even earlier in ancient Egypt.

But craftsmanship is craftsmanship, and products are products.

In China until the Yuan Dynasty, as cotton became common, craftsmen naturally used cotton yarn in ancient crafts.

Silk and cotton are combined and real velvet is born!

And with the great voyage, Chinese velvet spread to Europe. This thing is even better than silk. The crowns of European kings, including the crowns of the British Empire in its heyday, all used velvet as the basic material.

Even European writers often describe women's skin as "velvety smooth and soft."

Fang Mengqing said: "The magistrate of Zhangzhou sent this kind of velvet. Although the government did not allow local tribute, he still spent money to buy this batch of velvet. Some were paid for by the royal family for private use, and some were paid for by the Ministry of Revenue for public use. Officials They also encouraged Zhangzhou craftsmen, saying that they could produce more of this kind of flannel."

Everyone understood that this kind of velvet has just emerged, and the output is really very rare. Even if you have money, you can't buy it.

Liu Yao couldn't help but ask: "At what price did you buy the household department?"

Fang Mengqing said: "One or two Zhang Rong, twenty guan of money."

The lounge was full of big shots, and they couldn't help but be stunned when they heard the price.

All fabrics, usually measured in pieces.

A piece of silk costs about two or three guan.

A piece of silk costs about three or four guan.

A piece of damask costs about four or five guan.

The above are all normal retail prices.

A high-quality Shu brocade costs more than one hundred guan.

Only the best brocade will be sold by weight, with "liang" as the unit of calculation.

Fang Mengqing said that one tael of Zhang Rong is twenty guan, so it is probably more than 200 guan per piece. This thing is actually more expensive than the best Sichuan brocade!

Of course, prices will definitely come down.

Because the craft is too old, it is not an exclusive secret.

With such an expensive price, someone must buy it and analyze it. As long as it is a professional, it is easy to know how it is spun.

As the output increased, the price dropped, until it was much cheaper than Shu Brocade.

But velvet can continue to be improved, its brightness can be enhanced, and various patterns can be woven. Top-quality velvet will not be cheaper than Shu Brocade.

Everyone sat on the velvet carpet, chatting and joking while stroking the velvet.

"Those profiteers are in dire straits this time." Li Hanzhang gloated.

Xiao Chu said: "The prince is wise. Wang Jinggong wanted to crack down on profiteers, but he ended up being dismissed. But the prince did not fight with any force. He only brought some military cloth to make the wealthy businessmen obedient. With the Tokyo Stock Exchange, as long as the court is tight, Keep an eye on it, it will not be easy for them to have a monopoly in the future.”

The futures turmoil during this period made ministers dizzy.

No official in his right mind is involved in speculating in futures.

They firmly believe that the prince will take action. If they follow the trend of speculating, they will lose everything if they are not careful.

Although they guessed the ending, the whole process was unexpected.

The prince did not use administrative power, he just placed orders at the highest point. There were not even many military cloth orders. After luring retail investors to sell their orders, the Prince's people quickly evacuated, while the market price of cloth continued to plummet.

If I had to describe it in one sentence, it would be "a thousand pounds can be lifted with four ounces".

The problems that were not solved even after Wang Anshi was removed from power were solved by the prince in a daze.

The reason is not difficult to understand. Wang Anshi is facing an entire interest group. The core of these interest groups were eliminated long ago when the government changed, and last year's major case wiped out the remnants.

What the ministers didn't expect at all was that the prince would crack down on loan sharks at the end of the day, giving countless retail investors who were losing money an outlet.

"Oh, I'm old and can't keep up with the prince's pace." Zhai Ruwen couldn't help but sigh.

In fact, he is not old. He is not yet 60 years old, so he can be called a young prime minister.

But many cabinet ministers, including Zhai Ruwen, really felt that they could not keep up with the times, and seemed to be being pushed away by the emperor and the prince.

First of all, there were academic and conceptual innovations. A large number of "miscellaneous subjects" were introduced into the imperial examinations, and even astronomy and geography were opened to the public.

Then came the tariff reform, allotment of people into acres, civil service reform, and the establishment of exchanges...

A series of messy new things dazzled the old-style bureaucrats.

You know, when Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty promoted arithmetic schools and medical schools across the country, countless officials shouted that this was outrageous. In the Ming and New Dynasties, these were just basic operations.

Although medical schools have not been fully rolled out, four medical schools have been built one after another in Kaifeng, Luoyang, Hangzhou, and Chengdu. Next, we plan to set up in Guangzhou, Nanchang, Guizhou, Yangzhou and other places.

Zhai Ruwen, who has some knowledge of medical skills, also went to see the research content and study courses of the medical school.

A microscope shocked Zhai Ruwen!

He personally observed small insects that were invisible to the naked eye. After returning home, the water he drank felt dirty. From then on, he strictly ordered his family not to drink raw water.

Xiao Chu, who was already seventy-seven years old, laughed loudly and said: "Today's China is changing with each passing day. I wish I could be twenty years younger. For no other reason than to see what the Ming Dynasty can become."

Li Hanzhang said: "Reappear the Han and Tang Dynasties, surpass the Han and Tang Dynasties!"

"Haha, of course!" Xiao Chu laughed.

After Xiao Chu entered the cabinet, he didn't seem to do anything big.

However, if other cabinet ministers are unsure about many systems, laws, and academic matters, they will ask Xiao Chu for advice before making a decision. As long as the cabinet draft that Xiao Chu helps to check is sent to the emperor and the prince, it will basically not be called back and redone.

Gradually, Xiao Chu became more like the prime minister, and Zhai Ruwen was suppressed instead.

It's just that Xiao Chu doesn't take power. This old man has no wife and children, and he won't live long. What can he do if he takes power?

"The emperor has arrived!"

"The prince has arrived!"

…

The father and son came in chatting all the way.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Those Jews should be able to assimilate quickly after being dispersed, right?"

"How can they preach when they have no money and are a single family?" Ju Ming said: "The biggest weapon of the Jews is money, and then they strengthen the ethnic group through marriage and blood. For example, the richest Jew, Mr. Li, ransacked his home this time. If you are thrown into Youzhou, you will have to learn farming honestly to survive. Even if you are very good at running a business, you will at most become a small landowner in twenty years."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "That's good."

Because there were eunuchs around him, Ju Ming couldn't mention his name: "I have to learn from him. We will issue an edict next year that aliens from far away are not allowed to marry of the same race. They are forced to intermarry with Han people, and they will all be Chineseized in two or three generations."

"I heard that there are many black slaves in Guangdong," Zhu Guoxiang said.

Ju Ming said: "I asked carefully and found that most of them were black slaves from Nanyang, and they were all men. Even the poorest Han women would not marry black slaves, and did not even treat them as human beings. In the former Song Dynasty, In more than a hundred years, there has never been a native black slave in Guangzhou. As long as it doesn't spread, the court doesn't have to worry about it."

When the father and son came to the council hall, the important ministers of the cabinet were already standing at the conference table, bowing to them in unison.

Zhu Guoxiang sat down and said, "Today's meeting will be chaired by the prince."

After hearing the words, all the ministers had ideas.

Because the emperor has become more and more indifferent recently, leaving everything to the prince. Today he even asked the prince to preside over the imperial meeting.

The imperial meeting of the Ming Dynasty was actually the small court meeting of the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Ju Ming was not polite. He made some opening remarks and quickly got to the point: "Next, we must take advantage of the trend to rectify the national financial industry, that is, pawn, exchange, deposit, loan, exchange and other related businesses. Not only in Kaifeng, but also across the country. Rectify.”

"First, a slave's employment contract is not allowed to be used for mortgage or pawn. People are people, not goods!"

"Second, the maximum lending rate is based on the Ming Law."

"Third, allow private businesses to operate banknote shops (banknote exchange)."

"Fourth, try to issue Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes in the six major cities where shipping companies are located, as well as in Jiangling, Jiangzhou (Jiujiang), and Yangzhou. Merchants are not forced to subscribe. Everything is done voluntarily. For large transactions, they will definitely use the treasure banknotes to replace them. convenient."

In ancient society, no matter how the financial industry was regulated, there was only so much it could do.

Things like deposit reserves cannot be collected at all.

Officials can use this to bankrupt relevant shops, and ordinary people have no place to save or borrow money.

And there is no need to charge a deposit. Stores where people are willing to deposit money must be strong in the local area and have excellent reputations.

As for allowing private businesses to host banknote shops, it is to promote Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes and to facilitate the economic life of business people.

The banknote shop existed as early as the early Northern Song Dynasty, and a large number of banknotes were stored in the store.

Some businessmen want to go out to do business, or people want to travel far away, and metal currency is not easy to carry, so they take the metal currency to the banknote shop to exchange for banknotes. Banknote shops generally charge a 3% handling fee.

But with the collapse of banknotes, all those banknote shops closed.

The Baoquan Bureau used by the Ming Dynasty to issue and exchange banknotes could not be set up in every city, so it could be solved with the help of private banknote shops.

That is, the imperial court selected two or three big cities to set up Baoquan Bureau in the provinces that needed to issue banknotes.

In other small cities, private traders opened money shops.

Private merchants went to Baoquan Bureau to subscribe for banknotes, and then took them back to their small cities to help the court with the issuance and exchange of banknotes.

"Who has any objections or additions?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhang Shuye, who joined the cabinet this year, said: "Bao banknotes can also be issued in Chang'an, Taiyuan and Zhending to facilitate merchants to transport military supplies to the border areas, and it will be more convenient to transport military supplies to save the cost of transporting military supplies to the border areas. In the future, even if The Chinese system has collapsed, and as long as the Ming Dynasty treasures can still be used, merchants will be willing to continue to lose sides to the imperial court."

Qian Chen said: "What Mr. Zhang said is absolutely true. My suggestion is to issue treasure banknotes in every provincial capital within five years. According to feedback from merchants in Sichuan and Hanzhong, they like to use treasure banknotes very much and have repeatedly requested The imperial court increased the circulation. Sichuan merchants were like this, and merchants in other provinces could also accept it."

In fact, those merchants in Sichuan used Ming Dynasty banknotes as money orders.

Moreover, compared with ordinary money orders, Da Ming Bao Chao no longer has to bear the handling fees for cashing in other places, and can even be used directly to pay taxes in other places. It not only facilitates buying and selling, but also saves costs.

Take Li Bangyan's move to Hangzhou as an example. When a money order of 100,000 guan from the capital was cashed in Hangzhou, Li Bangyan was charged 1,000 guan as a handling fee. It stands to reason that the 1% handling fee is not high, but there is a lot of money that can't support the exchange.

If the imperial court established Baoquan Bureau in both Tokyo and Hangzhou, Li Bangyan would be able to save this thousand dollars since Baoquan Bureau does not charge handling fees.

Similarly, the more cities where Baoquan Bureau is established, the handling fees of private banknote shops will also decrease.

In the past, banknote shops charged 3% for currency exchange. With fierce competition, this will gradually drop to 2%, 1%, or even less. Banknote shops and customers must reach a delicate market balance based on their respective costs and benefits.

After Zhang Shuye and Qian Chen made their own suggestions, the rest of the cabinet ministers said nothing.

Seeing that the business was over, Zhu Guoxiang suddenly said: "I plan to abdicate and become the Supreme Emperor."

The important ministers were shocked when they heard this, and they were all dumbfounded.

Although he knew that the emperor was delegating power to the prince, he did not expect to abdicate directly!