Laoshan, Tangquan Town, the executive government office of the United States of Xinzhou.
The main building of this yamen is also half in the middle and half in the west. It is four stories high, 50 to 60 feet long, and 11 to 20 feet wide. It is very impressive. This building was originally intended to be the headquarters of the Royal Chamber of Commerce. After its completion, it coincided with the opening of the United States of New Zealand and needed a dignified building as its headquarters, so the building was rented and hung with the golden sign of the United States - the real The big gold-covered signboard looks powerful!
The executive government and administrative assembly of the United States of New Zealand are now inside, so it is called the executive administrative office.
In the great hall of the administrative government office, a shareholders' meeting is being held at this time. No, it should be a political meeting.
The congressmen present at the meeting were all extraordinary, either high-ranking officials or the richest people in Southeast China. It goes without saying that the nobles are dressed in black robes and gauze, and they are high-spirited. There are also congressmen from major cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and Ningbo. They are all extremely wealthy. Everyone has millions of furniture, and they all wear red official robes and black gauze given by the emperor. Official hat. Nobles and wealthy businessmen are supposed to be two distinct categories of people. How they collude in private is another matter, but in public they should not sit separately under the same roof in a public manner - in front of a group of nobles, how can there be a seat for the rich? Son?
But Zhu Cixi happened to create such a United States that recognized money but not people, allowing a group of princes and uncles and a group of wealthy men with millions and millions of assets to happily sit together to discuss matters. This kind of thing would have been a few years earlier. No one believed it, but Emperor Zhu could do it, which is really admirable.
Zhu Cixiang's method is simple to say, which is to engage in two rounds of "venture investment", the first round is for nobles, and the second round is for rich people.
Now the shares of the United States held by the nobles are all discounted, not 20% off or 10% off, but directly discounted!
A large share of one million taels was issued. First, 50,000 taels were issued, and then another 50,000 taels were issued, and one hundred thousand taels were issued one after another. Including the thirty shares subscribed by Emperor Zhu, a total of one hundred shares were issued in the United States, and the actual funds raised were only ten million taels.
After the 10 million taels were received, Zhu Cihong presided over the political meeting of the United States and passed a resolution to turn the "large shares" in the hands of the nobles into non-transferable special shares (which can be inherited but cannot be transferred). There is another 10-for-10 stock split, which means one large stock is split into ten special shares.
At the same time, it is stipulated that shareholders who hold this batch of "special shares with unpaid capital" can defer 50 years before paying off all the shares due!
After that, the United States began to raise special shares that required full payment of subscription fees (also inheritable and non-transferable), each worth 100,000 taels. A total of 100 shares were raised, raising 10 million taels.
The targets of this round of fundraising are not limited to nobles, as long as they can come up with one hundred thousand taels of silver.
One hundred thousand taels is not small money!
Although there are many rich people in the Ming Dynasty, no one's money comes from strong winds, and it is not easy to collect this money.
Fortunately, Zhu Cixiang is a senior expert in the money making industry - his old profession! Can you not be familiar with it?
And Emperor Zhu's method is also quite creative. It is not to use the high premium in the secondary market to make money. What liquidity can a stock of 100,000 taels per share have? Emperor Zhu set such a par value for the shares of the United States, hoping that investors could hold them for a long time and participate in the construction and development of the United States... Therefore, Zhu Cihong's method was to attach several special rights to the special shares of the United States.
The first is that if you hold one special share, you will get a baron of the United States; if you hold three shares, you will get a viscount of the United States; if you hold five shares, you will get a count of the United States; if you hold ten shares, you will get a marquis of the United States. . Each title will come with a certain amount of land.
Of course, these titles and lands cannot be realized immediately, but can only be realized after the Executive Council of the United States and the king all move to the American House. However, before cashing in, anyone who holds one share of special shares of the United States (for special shares that have not been fully paid, only one member can be recommended for every ten shares), can have the position of member of the United States Congress and the title of Honorary of the United States.
Second, since Zhu Cixiang concurrently serves as the king of the United States, the wealthy businessmen who hold shares have the power to "face the king" and "send memorials".
Don't underestimate these two powers. Zhu Cixiang doesn't like summoning Sesame Mung Bean officials very much. Civil servants below the sixth rank are not even qualified to participate in the imperial meeting. Although they can theoretically do so, they basically cannot see the emperor... .
There are more officials who have the "right to submit memorials". In theory, any official can submit memorials, but except for a very small number of officials who have the right to secretly submit memorials, the memorials of other officials are issued by the General Affairs Department. If a department thinks it needs to be uploaded, it will be sent to the Cabinet Office, Generalissimo's Office, Metropolitan Procuratorate, Imperial Palace, Imperial College and other yamen that have the power to report to the emperor, and then send it to Emperor Zhu.
And the members of the United States Council have the same power as the members of the Ming Dynasty Council to report to the emperor!
Of course, the right to submit memorials to the emperor is not unlimited, but must be signed by a certain number of members, and the total amount is controlled... because Zhu Cixiang does not like to read too many memorials.
Third, rich people who hold the position of members of the United States Council also have the right to recommend talented people for admission (members of the Ming Dynasty Council also have this power). They can recommend a certain number of "talents" to enter the best primary schools, middle schools and universities in the Ming Dynasty!
Of course, you don’t avoid relatives when you promote talents! It is also possible to recommend your own son or grandson to enroll...but the number of places is limited, so please recommend with caution!
With these three major additional rights and interests, is one hundred thousand taels still a problem?
What one hundred thousand taels of silver bought was not a share, but a ticket to enter the circle of the top dignitaries of the Ming Dynasty!
If you enter this circle, you may be bullied by the real top dignitaries, but the local sesame mung beans will not dare to mess with you again.
Moreover, Zhu Cixiang's credibility is very high. He always does what he says and is reasonable, so the rich people who pay for tickets don't worry about being slaughtered by him as a fat pig.
As for the really powerful people, they will definitely look down on the 100 "newcomers" who have squeezed in, but they will not kick them out. Because the United States is still burning money, the wealthy people of the Ming Dynasty must continue to provide money so that the United States can continue to run.
If we kick them away, the business of the United States will be ruined - these powerful people have unsatisfactory dandies in their families who are waiting for the title of the United States of land!
The thing to be discussed in today's political meeting is to continue to make money!
The ruling government of the United States is Zheng Zhilong's nephew Zheng Cai. He told everyone in a Mandarin Mandarin about the budget for increasing troops in the American Government, and then proposed the third phase of the stock raising plan.
What we are raising this time is one thousand taels of common stock with a par value of 30,000 shares, which means we need to raise 30 million taels!
The equity of the common stock itself is equivalent to one percent of the special shares - that is, one hundred common shares equals one special stock. Unlike the special shares that are inheritable but non-transferable, these ordinary shares can be bought and sold in the market. of.
However, common shares do not have "special rights". Shareholders who hold common shares cannot directly enter the political meeting, do not have the title of Honorable Men of the United States, and cannot recommend talented people to school.
Of course, the United States will also reward common stock shareholders. There are two ways of return, one is to pay land to redeem shares; the other is to pay fixed dividends.
One thousand taels of par value common stock of the United States can be exchanged for one thousand acres of arable land or three thousand acres of pasture in flat areas within the Republic of New Zealand. After acquiring arable land and pasture with stocks, you can also get a five-year tax exemption (referring to land tax).
If shareholders who hold common shares of the United States are unwilling to exchange for land, then they can receive a fixed dividend of 60 taels per share from the ruling government of the United States every year starting from the 15th year of Hongxing... The return is not huge, It's almost the same as the interest on feudal debt.
()
full text
