In the end, Zijuan did not dare to step into the courtyard. She knew very well the importance of Wang Huaiyuan to the Prime Minister. Even he had a strong conflict with Xiao Letian, which showed how serious the current situation was.
The red-eyed Zijuan returned to the back house with the porridge she had worked so hard to cook for a long time. She decided to chant sutras and worship Buddha together with all the girls in the inner house to pray for the prime minister.
Xiao Letian was completely in no mood to care about what the woman thought and did at the moment. He was spinning around the room like a trapped animal. The two large porcelain bottles smashed on the ground must be the treasure-level porcelain described by Molière. They will be put up at Sotheby's for later generations. It was estimated that it would cost 70 to 80 million, but at this moment, Xiao Letian was so angry that he couldn't care about anything.
With red eyes, he sat in the chair and held his messy hair with both hands. His low and hoarse voice echoed in the room, "What can happen to Jiangnan? Wasn't it all under our control before? What else can happen!"
"Before was before, now is now! Before, we didn't expect that Bai Layi would suddenly have such a battle, and we didn't expect that all the gold and food would be gone. Ahem, cough, cough..."
The grief-stricken Wang Huaiyuan started coughing violently again. Xiao Letian quickly handed over the cough medicine and wine prepared by Dr. Huang Xi on the coffee table. "Leave the painstaking data analysis work to Pierre! You can quickly It’s time to become an adult…”
Wang Huaiyuan took a sip of medicinal wine and waved his hand, "He can't take the lead. No matter how smart his brain is, he is still a European. I can't give him all the core secrets... Forget it, let's talk about Jiangnan!"
What happened in the south of the Yangtze River must start from the time when the Russian Expeditionary Force set out from Europe.
The national finance of the Qing Dynasty is no longer what it was in history. The imperial finance, which was originally supported by the three major revenue sources of commercial tax, taxation and grain tax, has been destroyed due to the war and Xiao Letian's financial impact. A completely different look.
Of course, the silver standard system has not changed, but the past evil law of repeatedly amassing money and exploiting the people through the fire consumption system has been overturned by more and more Western silver coins.
Now the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Qing Dynasty also regarded these beautifully minted silver coins as the country's normal reserve currency, which gave local officials no excuse to waste money refining silver.
Of course, in some remote provinces, the loose silver coins among the people still need to be minted again, and corrupt officials can still take another bite, but this piece of fat has become less and less profitable, and silver coins have long replaced ingots in circulation. .
Even if the state recognizes that silver coins are used to pay taxes, who among the local officials would dare to melt the silver coins and cast them into ingots?
Mexican Eagle Ocean, Ryukyu dragon pattern silver coins, plus a small amount of silver coins from European countries through commercial circulation, and a smaller amount of silver coins minted by the Qing Dynasty, are basically the main currency in circulation in important commercial ports of the Qing Dynasty.
In fact, there won't be any big trouble when this kind of physical silver coins are circulated. After all, every silver coin is a real silver plate. The value of the silver itself is relatively stable, and the people's confidence in silver is also very strong.
The bad thing is the Ministry of Household Bonds. This paper currency derived from the New Army Military Notes has been a deeply disguised credit currency from the moment it was born.
Yes, according to the bond issuance regulations of the Ministry of Accounts, one yuan of banknotes can indeed be exchanged for the equivalent of one yuan of physical silver coins. Legally, this piece of paper and that silver coin are of equal value.
However, it is impossible for ordinary people to go to the bank to exchange banknotes for silver dollars. Before the Manchu and Qing Dynasties got involved, Lotte Bank promised personal banknote exchange business. However, due to Yang Zhi's rebellion, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties also began to print bonds. This caused chaos in the banknote market, and as a result, Xiao Letian stopped this personal exchange business.
This stop is forever! The Ryukyus and the Manchus had a difficult negotiation, and in the end they forced Cixi to take off her pants and act like a rogue. The old women even shouted the slogan that they would rather be with friends than domestic slaves.
Moreover, Cixi and those senior Manchu officials used their righteousness to suppress the Han officials in the country. If anyone dared not to give them the right to mint money, the Manchus would become traitors. They would dare to destroy Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangnan, and Tibet. , Xinjiang were all sold to foreigners.
Xiao Letian couldn't hold back his shameless energy, and all the Han ministers in the world couldn't resist such a rogue trick! In the end, they had no choice but to use the Huaihe River in the Central Plains as the dividing line to divide the Qing's coinage power into two.
The banknote market issued in the area north of the Huaihe River is called Beipiao, also called Daqing Ticket. The banknotes south of the Huaihe River are issued by Rakuten Bank and are commonly known as South Banknotes (why do you feel like you are in trouble?). They are also called Ryukyu Banknotes or Xiao's Banknotes.
After the partition agreement was reached, the strange rule of free exchange between banknotes and silver coins in the past was completely abolished. No matter individuals or large institutions, banknotes could be exchanged for silver coins.
This is troublesome. Legally speaking, a one-yuan banknote is equivalent to a Ryukyu dragon-patterned silver coin. But how can we guarantee credit without exchanging it? Will the people accept it or not? Will it depreciate?
At this time, it is necessary to use tax as a guarantee, and use the national credit in the two huge business districts of Qing Dynasty and Ryukyu as a guarantee. Clearly tell the people that no matter whether the market recognizes this kind of paper money or not, the government will recognize it when paying taxes. Not only will it recognize it, but it will also provide certain discounts as an encouragement.
Now the people felt at ease. Everyone had to pay the imperial grain and national tax. Since the imperial court and Ryukyu recognized the paper notes as money, there was nothing to worry about. In this way, North and South Money Tickets gradually became popular.
Until now, most people do not know the specific data on how many money notes the Qing Dynasty issued, but Rakuten Bank has clear internal records.
From the day the money notes were born, until the crisis, a total of 1.8 billion yuan in notes were issued in the Qing Dynasty, of which 600 million were Beipiao issued by Beijing, and the remaining 1.6 billion yuan in notes were issued by Rakuten Bank.
This money is now circulating in the commercial circulation field throughout South China. The sufficient currency supply makes the circulation of materials faster and faster, and allows various projects to bloom everywhere. Jiangnan really looks like a Tongzhi ZTE.
Unfortunately, there are hidden dangers in the superficial prosperity. The most precious word in credit currency is credit. Nowadays, national credit is used to guarantee banknotes, but what if the national credit goes bankrupt?
Although the Ryukyu Kingdom is small, it is a wonderful country. Since Xiao Letian's business empire was established here and the financial center is also here, the tax revenue collected by the Ryukyu Kingdom is actually no less than that collected by the Qing Dynasty in the Jiangnan region.
When merchants from all over the world come to East Asia to trade, they inevitably have to deal with huge Chinese merchants, among which the Chinese merchants in Ryukyu are even more crucial.
Since all kinds of business are delivered in Ryukyu, the taxes are of course turned over to the national treasury. It is precisely because the Ryukyu treasury recognizes the credit of Nanbi banknotes that merchants from Jiangnan and other countries around the world do not resist such banknotes.
Since the big businessmen did not resist, the small and medium-sized businessmen relied on the big businessmen to naturally accept the Nanqiao. It was logical that ordinary people could use this kind of paper tickets to buy things from the small and medium-sized merchants.
Once credit is established, Rakuten can then issue more banknotes based on market conditions. This is a perfect virtuous cycle.
