"I understand, I understand! I understand... I will ask the Salt Bank to lend it to them for the expenses of my brothers' conquests in all directions!"
Zhu Cixiang looked bold, but what he said made a group of little brothers who stretched their necks a little disappointed.
Why borrow it again? You, the richest man in the Ming Dynasty, have the heart to lend debts to your brothers? And we are all so poor. When can we pay back the money we borrowed?
Looking at the resentful eyes of his younger brothers, Zhu Cixiang just smiled faintly and said to Zhu Youjian: "Father, I think that the reason why our ancestors proposed a 'country without conquest' is not only because they have no confidence in Emperor Jianwen's military strategy, but also because they have no confidence in conquest." I have no idea how much money and food is needed for expansion... It was not easy for our ancestors to run the country of Ming Dynasty. At that time, the annual income was only more than 30 million shi. Excluding all kinds of expenses, we could have more than 100,000 yuan a year. How many?
How many major conquests can be supported with this surplus? Therefore, even if Emperor Taizu wanted to conquer the small surrounding countries, he would have to spend several years accumulating money and food before he could save enough military expenses. And of course, I would be reluctant to spend the money saved penny by penny. Therefore, after the establishment of the temple Bintian, it is understandable that the ministers in the court were unwilling to continue spending money in Annan. "
The Ming Dynasty's contractionary policy after Zhu Di's death, including the withdrawal of troops from Annan and the cessation of the Western Ocean voyages, may appear to be due to the lack of enterprising spirit of the civilian court, but the underlying reason is actually that the court's finances are difficult to support. The Ming Dynasty's finances basically had no financing capacity, so the money in the treasury was emptied out, and the civil servants who managed the emperor's house could only spread their hands - no money!
And if there is no contraction when there is no money, then the deficit will be passed on to the bottom - those who pay for the court's deficit must be the people at the bottom, such as frontier soldiers, post soldiers and the like... What are the consequences? , no need to say more!
Zhu Cixiang glanced at a certain Mingjun who only borrowed money and did not pay it back, and then said: "But now our Ming Dynasty has the Salt Bank, as well as many commercial banks, banks, and banknotes. There are also banks, banks, It is a money industry guild that exchanges money between ticket numbers. Therefore, it can circulate money in the world, allowing the court and kings to borrow money immediately when they need to spend money.
Therefore, the court no longer needs to save money one penny at a time. It does not even need to pay for the kings' conquests. It can just let the kings borrow money from the bank... and the interest rate is not too high. The interest rate shall not exceed ten points. If the court during the Xuande period could borrow enough money and food, the Battle of Annan would naturally be fought! "
"Maybe we can continue the fight, but how can we pay off the huge debt we owe?"
The person who asked the question was Zhu Youjian's fourth son, Zhu Cizhao, who was granted the title of King Si. He was the son of Zhu Youjian's beloved concubine Tian Guifei. Concubine Tian was a Han Chinese, so of course she did not have Wanhu Orduo, but she was very favored, so she received many rewards from Chongzhen. Most of it was subsidized to her two sons who were named "Kings of Wanhu"... However, her little money was just a drop in the bucket for the various expenses and deficits of Wanhu Wangzhuang, so Zhu Cizhao did not have much money.
Zhu Cixiang glanced at his "poor brother" and said to himself: He is an honest boy who borrows money and has to pay it back. No wonder he is so poor... Look at your father Chongzhen, he is an old man who borrows money and refuses to pay it back!
Of course, borrowing money and not paying it back is also a science. The key is who to borrow from! The Ming Dynasty did not have a decent financial system in the past, so when the court had no money, it could only default on military pay - that is, borrow money from a vicious person like Li Zicheng, and the money was not paid! Will this cause chaos in the world?
In history, Chongzhen's death was actually caused by his creditors forcing him to die because he could not pay back the money he owed!
But now that Zhu Cihong has pulled up the financial system, the money borrowed by the court ultimately comes from super-rich people such as salt merchants, maritime merchants, etc. Moreover, the imperial court did not directly ask them to borrow money, but used the banking system in Zhu Cihong's hands to magnify their money countless times and then lend part of it to the imperial court.
This money... you don't have to pay back the principal at all, you just need to pay interest every year. Even if you repay the principal, you are borrowing something new to repay the old one, which is equivalent to not paying it back.
What's even more exaggerated is that the imperial court clearly will not repay the principal, but it is still regarded by everyone as an honest debtor who must pay its debts, so it can get the most favorable interest rate. Under this system of borrowing money to fight a war without having to repay it, the cost of launching and sustaining a war is actually very low.
Moreover, the Ming court could not bear this debt and just pass it on to the vassal states below. As long as the target of the invasion is wealthy enough - of course there will be "bad debts" in attacking the Mongolian grassland, but if Zhu Cixuan and the others can take over the land in the river, then they can afford the debt of tens of millions.
It's not that there is money in the river, but that there is money in India next door to the river. It's not a problem to collect some interest every year.
Debt can be pushed down, but the demand generated by military operations can only be digested within the Ming Dynasty...mainly in the five provinces of Jiangsu, Hubei, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Fujian.
And this kind of military industry order is always a good deal! Aren’t the profiteers in the five provinces making huge profits? How can a civil servant who colludes with profiteers oppose such a good thing?
Finance is a magical thing, right? If Emperor Xuande wanted to have this, all the civil servants below him would have to become militarists.
"Of course, whoever becomes the King of Annan will pay off the debt!" Zhu Cixi explained patiently, "Fourth, do you think it is a loss to exchange a debt of several million for a King Annan?"
"But this Annan country is small and poor, how can it still owe millions?" Chongzhen probably promised Zhu Cizhao to be the king of Annan, so when he heard that he owed several million, he suddenly became a little anxious.
Millions!
Zhu Cizhao, like Zhu Cijiong, was a "poor" child. When he was studying in the Youth Guard Corps and the Guard Corps, he only had 10 taels of silver a month...
"You don't have to pay back millions," Zhu Cixiang said with a smile. "Based on 5 million, if you pay an annual interest of 8 cents, it's only 400,000 in interest a year. As long as you can pay 400,000 in interest a year, you can continue to carry a debt of 5 million." Okay. In a country blessed by Annan, what's the problem with an annual income of two to three million? How can it not be able to afford a debt of five million?
If the fourth child feels that the annual interest of 400,000 yuan is not enough, he only needs to use 2 million acres of permanently tax-free farmland to pay off the debt. Annan is a land of thousands of miles of fertile land, how much does 2 million acres take up? In this way, the Annan court will only have to bear the interest incurred before the delivery of 2 million acres of fertile land in the future... which will only be a few hundred thousand taels at most. "
"That's good, now I feel relieved!" Zhu Cizhao laughed. The land was stolen anyway, so it doesn't matter if you give it to the creditor. The interest on hundreds of thousands of taels of silver can always be repaid.
Zhu Youjian looked at this silly son and sighed in his heart!
Annan's fertile fields... those are two-crop and three-crop paddy fields! In the case of tax exemption, how can we earn 600,000 to 700,000 yuan a year by outsourcing it to merchants, right? Does your Zuo Mengmei know that you are "doing business" like this?
Zhu Youjian sighed and said to Zhu Cihong: "Boss, you will help raise the military expenses for the fourth brother to go to Annan..."
"It's all up to you!" Zhu Cixiang said with a smile, "I can make the decision. I'll give the fourth son a quota of 5 million first. If it's not enough, we'll add more! When it comes to war, we're not afraid of spending more money. As long as we can win... ...As long as the occupied territory is profitable.”
"That's natural!" Chongzhen was quite satisfied - although this traitor was traitorous, he could only ask him how much he wanted with one sentence! This performance is still improved compared to the previous life.
In fact, Chongzhen didn't know that the 5 million debt was not taken out by the Salt Bank at all... After Zhu Cixi got the loan contract signed by Zhu Cizhao, the land certificate and the official and commercial license, he could go to Shanghai to find money for his brother. .
Naturally, there will be profiteers who want to take the Annan land and serve as official merchants for the Annan Kingdom and use the money to make entrusted loans - their money is interest-free, and they only need the Salt Bank to issue a letter of guarantee "to assume the repayment obligation in the event of defeat." That's it. And the interest of hundreds of thousands of taels generated before the end of the Annan War... is of course the Salt Bank's profit and Zhu Cixiang's hard work!
