The imperial court did not know about Ma Dong's brilliant victory in Tangnu Ulianghai. To be honest, Zhu Yijun didn't really care. In his opinion, even if all the 6,500 men led by Ma Dong were wiped out while marching westward and northward, it would not affect the overall situation. Yes, today's Ming Dynasty's national strength can withstand such failures dozens or even hundreds of times. As for the Oirat Department, as long as it fails once, it will fall into the bottomless abyss like it is now, and eventually there will be no trace in the history of human civilization.
As primary industrialization took root in the Ming Dynasty, tens of millions of square kilometers of land gradually burst out with energy that was terrifying in the history of human development. The production efficiency provided by machine production was destroying all old forces at a frightening speed.
The massive capital accumulated by the former clans, nobles, big landowners and even smugglers was invested in new industries. Capital that could only be used to purchase land and intensify land annexation has embarked on an endless cycle of pursuing profits, expanding production, and continuing to pursue profits. They will form a trickle into a lake and a sea, and gradually evolve into a surging torrent.
This torrent washed away the turbid foam, eroded the order of agricultural society for thousands of years, distorted and shattered the shackles that stood in front of it, and in the center of the world, sounded the first thunder of the impending rapid advancement of human civilization.
Of course, due to the emperor's precautions, the "imperial economy" with the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the main body still controls the largest funds - and technology. Zhu Yijun could also tell that this first noise was unconscious. It was just driven by the instinct to pursue profits and extended its claws to the emperor and the court he represented. The person who did this did not know that he represented capital. ——But Zhu Yijun clearly saw the essence.
In August of the thirteenth year of Wanli, when Ma Dong led the army to intimidate various tribes and attack Oirat, Wang Guoguang reported that after four months of investigation, it was found that banknotes had been issued from banks in Suzhou, Taicang, Fuzhou, Linqing and other places. Just the reason for returning immediately.
Underground bank, large banknotes! Seeing these two words, Zhu Yijun took a breath of cold air. Out of a cautious attitude towards the development of the financial industry, the essence of Zhengshitang's issuance of small-denomination silver notes in various places is to increase the amount of currency. One Longyang and half a tael of silver notes are equivalent, and both are equal to half a tael of silver - that is It is said that when the imperial court minted Longyang, there was no minting profit. Instead, it had to pay for the fire consumption. It only wanted to establish a small amount of over-issuance after establishing credit, so as to recover the minting cost and solve the market's "money shortage" worry.
This situation was immediately discovered by someone who was interested. Wang Guoguang had previously received reports that some people were using a large number of cash receipts at a premium in some cities, and taking advantage of the policy of equal value between silver notes and silver dollars, they exchanged a large amount of dragon yuan at state-owned banks - paid for by the imperial court. Fire consumption becomes their first profit.
Immediately, these people will receive the silver dollars in their hands to lend money to small and medium-sized enterprise owners in these relatively developed cities to expand their operations. The investigation team under the leadership of the Du branch found that the "banks" that lend money will carefully examine the growth potential of these loan companies, and charge land and property mortgages that far exceed the loan limit to earn interest. This is the second line of profit.
What's even more incredible is that when these people lend money, they do not directly lend silver coins, but large-denomination bills issued by banks. The minimum amount is two hundred taels. This move is mainly to limit the circulation scope of these notes-this thing only circulates in the business world.
Merchants holding these large bills could go to a bank that issued loans and exchange the bills for silver coins of equivalent value, just like the imperial banks. At the same time, these banks have figured out the principle of over-issuance of currency, that is to say, they have already carried out over-issuance of currency before the imperial court. As long as there is no run, these banks can easily obtain capital several times the amount of the deposit and use it to make profits. This is the third line of profit.
At the beginning of the twelfth year of Wanli period, due to the impact of primary industry on handicraft industry, civil uprisings began in Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places. In April, an uprising even occurred in the capital of Zhangzhou, resulting in the capital being occupied by the rebels. In order to alleviate the imminent crisis, the imperial court took a series of measures at the speed of light - establishing banks and putting currency on the market was an important part of it.
Because the court had been preparing for this matter for a long time, banks were spread across the country in a short period of time, and a large amount of money was put into the market. While alleviating deflation, it was conducive to accelerating market circulation, thereby promoting the expansion of production and employment. The stimulus to the market was immediate.
However, within a year of investing in Long Yuan and small banknotes, "shadow banking" appeared. While Zhu Yijun was stunned, he also secretly applauded the people of Ming Dynasty for their understanding of the commodity economy.
Who said our ancestors didn’t understand market economy? Facts have proved that the Chinese people are born with business acumen. As long as the policies allow, they will overcome all obstacles in the market and find a bright road - China in later generations has fully proved this.
Applause is applause, but how to deal with this new thing has become a problem before the court.
When the imperial court issued banknotes, it was accompanied by severe punishments - private minting and printing of more than a hundred taels of money by the private sector was punishable by beheading. In order to prevent people who are illiterate in the law or ignorant young people from inexplicably losing their heads out of curiosity to imitate, this law is still a bit warm - the penalty of less than one hundred taels is exile and hard labor.
Because the issuance of banknotes is one of the most important financial activities in the country, the technological content of small-denomination banknotes at this time is very high - the paper formula is strictly confidential, plus a variety of anti-counterfeiting technologies such as multi-color overprinting, watermarks, and dense patterns. It is absolutely difficult to imitate.
However, the crime of counterfeiting currency cannot be placed on the bank that issued the loan. They did not issue silver notes, nor did they mint dragon yuan. They just took advantage of the court's policy of exchanging small-denomination silver notes with equal amounts of silver and issued new notes.
To be fair, if these "banks" did not use "Long Yuan" as the principal to make money for the court, they would use pure silver as the principal to issue bills and lend money, which was completely upright. The small-denomination silver notes issued by the imperial court only inspired these private bankers to further develop the "silver notes" that existed in the Song Dynasty and combine them with the loan business.
At the imperial meeting at the Wenying Palace, Wang Guoguang said: "If the imperial court prohibits the issuance of such bills indiscriminately, it will not stand up to the law and reason; if on the other hand it prohibits the exchange of silver bills and dragon yuan, it will be afraid of the public Since I am not happy to use banknotes, I am in a dilemma. I think that if we choose the lesser of two evils, it would be more reasonable to prohibit the return of banknotes."
Why does it have to be "the lesser of two evils" again? A bitter smile appeared on Zhu Yijun's lips. Over the years of the reform, the courtiers have been quite annoyed, because the deeper the reform goes, the more such things happen, and there are so many threads that often affect the whole body.
When the reform first started, it was the interests of conservative forces such as big landowners that were affected. Zhu Yijun opened the situation with the butcher's knife in his hand. If all future reforms have to be carried out with a sword at stake, it would be better not to change at all, for fear of ruining the government. Therefore, the more difficult it is to untie the knot, the more uncertain the government's governance will be.
Wang Guoguang continued: "Your Majesty, I thought that the imperial court's bank might also start lending. As long as the interest rate is lower than that of the bank, they can't compete with us."
Zhu Yijun smiled and nodded when he heard this. Seeing that all the ministers were waiting for him to express his position, he spoke again: "Let's all brainstorm and discuss."
Hearing what the emperor said, Luo Wanhua, who had returned to China and entered the political hall, pondered: "Your Majesty, there are Portuguese trading companies in Bago and Yangon, doing the same business as banks in Linqing, Hangzhou and other places - only they don't have banknotes. This link. I heard that there were many bankers in Europe lending money to kings and nobles at this time, but they did not have a national bank. Therefore, I thought there was no need to make a fuss about this matter, and there was no point in letting them fend for themselves. No."
After Luo Wanhua spoke, Wang Zongmu, the left minister of the Du branch, took up the topic and said: "I think that what Wang Xiang and Luo Xiang said is true. But I am worried that the banks of the imperial court may not be able to conduct such detailed inspections as these banks - this After all, it is not a self-owned business, so it is one level worse. Even if there is a mortgage, there are still subordinates who can take care of it. If the capital is lost, it will not be good. "
Everyone laughed after hearing this. Zhang Siwei commented: "Jing Suo's ability to settle accounts has come to prominence since he was the governor of water transportation. Now he is more and more good at doing it in the Du branch." Yang Wei, the Shangshu of the Du branch, reported illness today and will not attend the meeting in the future. Although Wang Zongmu is the Zuo Shilang, but the Holy Juan Youlong, so he didn't have stage fright in front of a room full of bosses and could talk freely.
Liang Menglong had been listening in the audience before and saw that everyone was talking about the same thing. He put down the tea cup in his hand and interjected: "Your Majesty, now the national bank and private banks are doing business of "bank notes shop". People need to exchange money in different places." Pay storage money; when merchants exchange loose gold and silver for dragon yuan, they also have to pay for fire and money. Why not change the idea, since the national bank also lends money and private people deposit gold and silver, we don't have to pay for fire and exchange for dragon yuan for free. Woolen cloth?"
"In this way, all the money in the world will be in the hands of the imperial court. No matter how many banknotes are issued, there will be no fear of runs, and the imperial court can issue more. Both of them, based on the world's gold and silver, the imperial court can lend at low interest rates, which is difficult for private banks to Competing also solves the problems faced at this time.”
Zhang Siwei saw that Luo Wanhua and Liang Menglong kept silent when they were discussing in the Political Hall, but at this moment they seemed to be having trouble in the Wenhua Hall. He said distressedly in his heart: "It's still not as good as Zhang Juzheng. If he was in power, who would Do you dare, Vice Minister?"
