In the 14th year of Wanli's reign, Zhang Siwei rested for more than half a month due to coldness invading his lungs, severe coughing and fever after the beginning of spring.
The Prime Minister was in poor health, and Zhu Yijun's insistence on "not crossing the line" for more than half a year was unsustainable, so he had to share a lot of Zhang Siwei's work - only the emperor could take over the decision-making function of the Prime Minister, and the Vice Minister could intervene in the short term. Over time, It is inevitable that the work content of the deputy prime minister will invade the powers of other ministries.
Zhang Siwei is in his sixties and has already lived beyond the original time and space. However, his father died of illness three years ago, followed by his two younger brothers and stepmother Hu, who died of illness one after another. Traveling back and forth for funerals caused great harm to Zhang Siwei's body.
Although he did not have to abide by the system due to filial piety due to the Great Reform, many conservative ministers secretly advised him to abide by the system on the grounds of illness, so Zhang Siwei withstood some pressure; on the other hand, because of Zhu Yijun's protection of the "Chu Party", Zhang Siwei was at a loss in the cabinet. Although he positions himself as an "official minister", it can often be seen that Zhu Yijun is not satisfied with him.
Seeing that the Wei Dynasty came to convey the order, Zhang Siwei asked the Wei Dynasty emperor why he summoned him, even though he knew it was useless. Sure enough, Wei Chao said with a straight face: "I don't know."
Although Zhang Siwei was a little angry in his heart, the Wei Dynasty was strong without desire and would not hold back. Even though he was the prime minister, there was nothing he could do. He had no choice but to smile and say: "Eunuch Wei, please go back and reply. I will be there right away."
When the Wei Dynasty returned, Zhang Siwei changed his clothes and analyzed the reason for the emperor's summons in his mind. The major events at home and abroad this year are: first, the emperor intends to change the political system; second, canonizing various countries; third, financial reform; fourth, the continuous advancement of water conservancy projects; fifth, post-disaster resumption of production in Shanxi and other places - is there something going on in Shanxi?
Zhang Siwei directly guessed that something was going on in Shanxi because Liang Wenmeng had previously sent a letter informing him that the matter entrusted by his brother Zhang Sixiang had been completed. The Heshengyuan Bank founded by the great businessman Wang Quan had obtained the acting Shanxi Chief Envoy. Although the business qualifications of Si Qianliang Storage are not as large as those of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, being able to enter this circle is the most important thing.
At the end of October last year, after more than two months of research, the Dachao Conference passed the "Huangming Financial Management Charter" (Interim), "Financial License Issuance Management Measures" (Trial), and "Commercial Bank Deposit and Loan Reserve Management Measures" (Trial) and a series of other financial regulations.
A series of laws and regulations have brought many financial businesses such as banks, banknotes, and pawns that have grown wildly among the people into management regulations, and the Huangming Central Bank has been established in the Ministry of Accounts to be responsible for supervising the national financial industry, minting and issuing coins, and issuing them. Commercial bank license and implementation of supervision and inspection.
At the same time, the original "Daming Jingshi Bank" and "Nanjing Bank" merged to become "Daming Industrial and Commercial Bank", which was placed under the management of the Central Bank of the Ministry of Accounts and still had to pay a large amount of reserves to the central bank. The Ministry of Internal Affairs actually handed over 26 million taels, which reportedly accounted for 40% of the total savings of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
Banks owned by the royal family are still supervised by the Ministry of Accounts. Regardless of whether it is a pretense or not, this gesture exceeds Zhu Yijun's repeated encouragement to industry and commerce.
But Zhang Siwei, who knew the inside story, knew that the emperor had already taken advantage of him. Before the reform, the imperial court did not have such a new thing as a bank. The two major banks, Beijing and Nanjing, established by the royal industrial and commercial group, were regarded by officials as belonging to the imperial court. Their birth and development naturally benefited from the imperial court's glory - the salaries of officials in the capital and various places were distributed. All official-related money businesses, including the transfer of money for troops stationed in various places, are placed in the two major banks.
As a result, when the management policy was introduced, the royal family took out the share capital structure of the two major banks-the royal family accounted for 75%, the clan accounted for 10%, the nobles accounted for 10%, and the remaining half was actually owned by large private businessmen. , anyway, it has nothing to do with the imperial court. Except that its major shareholder is the royal family, it is no different from a private bank.
From the cabinet to the officials in the capital, no one could find fault with the emperor. There was no such thing as a bank before. But after thinking about it, the minister had his own thoughts - the royal family can do it, why can't my family do it? Zhang Siwei immediately wrote to his fourth brother Zhang Sixiang at home, asking him to organize Shanxi merchants to set up a bank: This is the big business that will be passed down to the family!
As the fourth brother of the Prime Minister, Zhang Sixiang stood behind the scenes and joined forces. Standing in front of the stage was Wang Chonggu's nephew Wang Quan - the same one who had Zhang Siwei mess with Wang Guoguang and deliver a letter to the capital for Wang Chonggu.
In less than half a year, Heshengyuan, a combination of power and commerce, was born, with a total share capital of 26 million. Together with the newly established Huaiyang Bank, Zhili Bank, Guangdong and Guangdong Bank, and Dongyu Bank, it is known as the "Big Five". Bank", and its capital ranks first among the five major banks.
The speed of the birth of big banks exceeded Zhu Yijun’s most optimistic estimates: since the Imperial Meeting last August, the integration of capital across the country has been proceeding at the speed of light—Guangbao Trading Co., Ltd. of the Ministry of Post Office made all the money of the year in just this half year. Investment has now extended its tentacles to Foshan.
In addition to the five major banks worth tens of millions, banks worth millions have sprung up in major cities. There are more than 50 in the country - no bank with a deposit of 100,000 yuan has applied for a license, because every bank has a bank deposit of 100,000 yuan. The application fee for a license is more than 100,000 taels.
The imperial court used high licensing fees to squeeze small capital out of the financial market, and made it clear that businessmen without large amounts of capital should not get involved in this business - lest the imperial court clean up the mess after bankruptcy.
...
Zhang Siwei sat down with two people in the political hall. After entering the palace, he kept thinking about the reason for the emperor's summons - as expected, it was probably about financial reform. Although his younger brother Zhang Sixiang was standing behind He Shengyuan, it was impossible for the emperor not to pay attention to such a large stall. If the emperor asked, what should I say?
In his view, today's major banks are rushing to gain acreage, and the competition during this period is no less than a battle. And who can stand at the forefront of the trend, who doesn’t have a big force behind them? It is normal and normal for me, Lao Zhang, to have a hand in it.
The emperor stood behind the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and he had already passed the clear path. Behind the Huaiyang Bank is the Salt Merchant Consortium, with two British public servants as the general backstage; behind the Zhili Bank is the Northern Industrial and Mining Consortium, with Zhang Jing standing behind; behind the Guangdong and Guangxi Bank is the "Myanmar Gang", with Gong Xian and Deng Zilong The family is standing in the front, followed by Luo Wanhua and the Zhongxing County Wang family in the cabinet; only Dongyu Bank is more mysterious, and the shadowy figures in the back are unclear - Wang Guoguang and Ling Yunyi are very close to each other, maybe there is something wrong It was a trick the two of them pulled off.
The world is as black as crows! Ever since the emperor opened the way for the royal family to do business, the clan, nobles and ministers have been jealous for a long time. It's just that each company has no capital, no technology, and no emperor's management methods. They can only stand aside and drool while relying on the royal industrial and commercial complex by providing raw materials and rough processing of products.
After the imperial family reform, the emperor relied on Gewu to gain a technological monopoly before opening up a big hole. The establishment of the Patent Office made various production technologies available for purchase. The major capitals that have been watching the pig run since the first year of Wanli finally have the opportunity to go to sea and fight in person - from the industrial and mining industries to the banking industry that are blooming everywhere, they have their origins.
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Contrary to Zhang Siwei's expectation, the emperor's first question after summoning him was not about financial matters. After the emperor sat down in the Hall of Yangxin, the emperor asked: "Mr. Fengpan, Shanxi was hit by disaster, countless families were destroyed, and annexation was very popular. What are the regulations of the political affairs hall on this matter?"
