In the conference hall of Wenhua Hall, a financial meeting is in progress.
Before Yan Yuan brought the good news of the recapture of Seoul, Ming Dynasty Supervisor Ming Wang Zhu Heji, as well as Ming Dynasty's left prime minister Zhuge Sanhe, right prime minister Yu Zhongxian, and Hubu Shangshu Ma Chenglong were heading towards Jiangbei together. Governor Yang Qilong, Governor of Guangdong Qiu Hui, Governor of Fujian Zheng Jing, Governor of Zhejiang Chen Yonghua, Governor of Jiangnan Wan Sida, Governor of Jiangxi Zuo Chunqiu, as well as Admiral Pang Yongzhong of Dongyinqian Factory, and Zhu Heji's emperor Zhu Cijiong and others are crying for poverty. !
This is not Zhu Heji, Zhuge Sanhe, Yu Zhongxian and others pretending to be poor, but really poor!
Of course it's not that they are poor personally, but that the Ming Dynasty under their leadership is poor...too poor!
If we don’t compare income, but talk about national treasury and money savings, Zhu Heji’s Ming Dynasty was actually the poorest among the four dynasties of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, even poorer than the little girl next door, who had the power to know the state affairs of Korea.
Ri Wenji's North Korean treasury contains at least one or two hundred thousand taels of silver, as well as copper coins worth millions of silver dollars. North Korea has no silver mines and nothing to export, so it has no conditions to use silver as its currency. , Copper coins are the currency recognized by everyone in North Korea.
Although North Korea has been squeezed miserably by Kangxi in the past two years, for a country with a population of eight to nine million and an annual food production of more than 20 million shi, there should always be more than one million in silver and savings. .
But under Zhu Heji's leadership in the Ming Dynasty... there was no such thing as a national treasury bank.
Because the national treasury of the Ming Dynasty was a virtual concept, the household department did not even have a treasury, let alone deposit money.
On the statement provided to the Daming Account Department by the official bank account of Daming East Factory, the balance of deposits and loans in the Account Department has been negative since two years ago!
In other words, it doesn’t matter that the Ming Dynasty’s treasury is empty, and it still owes a large sum.
If Chongzhen saw the statement from Dongchang's official bank account to the Ming Dynasty's household department, he would probably shed tears of sadness. .
As for the statement of internal funds, of course it is also negative!
Zhu Heji is "really poor"!
But poverty leads to poverty, but Zhu Heji was so poor that he was ambitious... Even if he borrowed a lot of debt, he still had to go north to the Central Plains to regain the lost land.
But after all, ambition cannot be used as military expenditure, so during this period, Zhu Heji called in the governors or governors of the six provinces below, as well as the Eunuch Pang of Dongyin Coin Factory, and held meetings every day to discuss borrowing money.
This time Zhu Heji plans to launch an army of 500,000 to fight two wars to destroy the country, which will last at least five years... maybe ten years!
So this military expenditure must be very scary!
And Zhu Heji's court has always been unable to make ends meet, struggling to make ends meet. In order to complete the equalization of land, he had to make some concessions and give some financial compensation to the landowners who had not acted as lackeys of the Manchus.
The specific supplementary plan is also related to the position and performance of these landlords themselves or their elders in the last Ming and Qing wars.
If you are a loyal and loyal person, you should make up more. If you are an ordinary landowner, you should make up less. If you have been a lackey... then I'm sorry, just stay where it's cool!
This compensation method was originally developed for the four provinces of Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang.
However, many landlords or clans in Guangdong and Fujian provinces felt that they had suffered a loss during the equalization of land, and they also proposed to compensate according to this method.
Of course, Zhu Heji was unwilling to offend these staunchest supporters, so he agreed to their request.
And this relent, the compensation fee will exceed the expenditure!
In addition, Zhu Heji's court could not produce enough silver coins at that time, so it thought of issuing public bonds.
It’s not too much, it’s just a small target...more than 100 million!
Not long after he had just finished borrowing the "land equalization debt" of more than 100 million, he wanted to borrow another 100 million war debt... No matter how you look at it, it's a bit too much!
I'm afraid this bond won't be easy to sell!
That's why this money-borrowing meeting was held for several days without any result.
But today, good news came from North Korea. It seems that the matter of borrowing money must have an outcome.
"We took Seoul? Su Zhanshan and Emperor Hu De are really good!" Zhu Heji was already boasting, "Who knows the state affairs of North Korea now? Is it Song Shilie or Yin Jin?"
It turned out that there was no Li Wenji in Zhu Heji's plan. He had previously planned to ask one of Song Shilie and Yin Jin to foretell the state affairs of North Korea... This was a transition.
When the Korean War ended with the Ming Dynasty's victory, then the Zhi Guo Shi appointed by Zhu Heji also defeated King Li of Kangxi's side.
Of course, the defeated Li Dynasty lost the legal authority of North Korea, and it was impossible for Song Siyeol and Yin Jin to become kings because they did not have an army of their own and relied entirely on "Mingba" to fight.
If he knew a little bit about practical matters, he would take the initiative to welcome Zhu Heji's heir as king.
However, Yan Yuan's answer surprised Zhu Heji. He said: "Reporting to your Majesty, the inscriptions of Emperor Su Zhanshan and Emperor Hu De said that the person who was elected as the right to know the state affairs was Li Zhen's sister. This year, only The thirteen-year-old Ming’an princess Li Wenji.”
"Who?" Zhu Heji was stunned.
"It's Li Zhen's sister Li Wenji..." Yan Yuan said, "Emperor Hu De and Su Zhanshan said that this Ming'an princess is young and beautiful, but she is gentle yet strong and brave enough to take on responsibilities. She is actually a heroine's husband. . Moreover, when the DPRK recommended Quan to know the state affairs, she stepped forward and volunteered, so Emperor Hu De and Su Zhanshan could not object."
"This is God helping the Ming Dynasty!" Zhu Heji suddenly laughed, "No matter what, this Li Wenji is easier to control than the two old foxes Song Shilie and Yin Zhen." His eyes swept around the auditorium again, "Li's family is a woman who knows how to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic. We can't be outdone by her! Let's decide on the issuance of an additional 10 million public bonds today! Nine thousand years old, you are the God of Wealth of the Ming Dynasty. Just say something. Well...can Guanyinhao be able to handle underwriting?"
Eunuch Pang looked embarrassed, "Your Majesty, to be honest, less than half of the land balance debt issued last time has returned to the official bank, occupying a total of 50 million silver yuan! And this debt is still in trouble (I ) flows in hand.
If the war debts are like this this time... the official bank account may become inoperable! "
In fact, Zhu Heji expected that the large amount of land-equalizing bonds would flow back to the official banks, because the interest rates on rural loans were much higher than the coupon rates on land-equalizing bonds.
In this case, the landowner or clan that received the bond would of course want to sell the bond. Moreover, the financial industry in rural areas of the Ming Dynasty was underdeveloped. There were few places where bills were used and many places where silver coins were used.
Therefore, in the past year or two, Guanyinhao has been under pressure to take over the debt of Juntian.
Although the official bank's takeover of the land equalization debt will definitely be profitable on paper, and the flow of silver coins to the countryside is also beneficial to the economic development of the Ming Dynasty - this shows that after the land equalization is completed, farmers are more actively involved in production than before, so it is necessary More funding.
However, the large outflow of cash has also caused insufficient liquidity in the official bank account. If there is a run, it will be in trouble!
"What about Penglai Bank? There is money everywhere in Dengzhou!" Zhu Heji turned around and asked about his father, King Zhu Tian.
This Penglai bank account was opened by brother and sister Zhu Tianwang and Princess Kunxing. The main business was managed by Princess Kunxing.
When King Zhu Tian heard this question, he immediately frowned and said: "There is indeed a lot of money in the market in Dengzhou now, and the interest rate is not as high as in the south.
But issuing war bonds to fight Kangxi in Dengzhou...Azai, do you think it's appropriate? "
Everyone knows where Dengzhou’s money comes from!
When Zhu Heji heard this question, he nodded with a smile and said, "Isn't this appropriate? This is called borrowing money from the thief to beg the thief... Let me give them another guarantee!"
This bond issuance is guaranteed by the land in Liaodong, and is called Pingliao Land Bond!
And it is anonymous, and there are still debts that must be paid. When Liaodong is pacified, anyone who holds this bond can choose to exchange it for land...the land exchanged will not be equalized in the future! "
King Zhu Tian seemed to be convinced and nodded slightly, "Then I'll give it a try... But you can't give me even 100 million. The Penglai Bank can only guarantee 30 to 40 million at most."
He turned to Pang Yongzhong and said, "Mr. Factory, with this benefit, can you give me an underwriting of 30 million?"
"Let's try it!" Eunuch Pang thought for a while and then said, "There are always people who want to buy good fields..."
Zhu Heji finally looked at several governors and governors, "The rest... I'll leave it to the feudal officials!"
