On the fourth day of the court meeting, Zhu Yunwen officially announced the establishment of a royal central bank at Taiping Bridge, Tongji Gate, Jubao Gate, Jiangdong Gate, and Jinchuan Gate in Zhongcheng to change the situation where silver is cheap and copper is precious, and promised to provide hundreds of principals. One cent of the profits, and all officials were called on to deposit copper coins into the bank.
"I have set up a central bank to endorse the reputation of the royal family and promise that everyone in the world, whether officials, businessmen or ordinary people, can deposit money in the bank, and the bank will pay a certain amount of interest according to the time limit for depositing it. No matter who it is, anyone can Exchange silver and copper banknotes at the bank. The bank uses the private price as the basis, and the banknotes are exchanged for copper, the coppers are exchanged for silver, and the treasure banknotes are exchanged for silver and copper..."
"However, the bank has just been established and there may be insufficient copper coins in reserve. I hope that all officials will take the lead and deposit the copper coins in their hands into the bank and distribute the dividends in the future. What we are doing now is to alleviate the copper shortage among the people and provide livelihood for the people. I hope you will be considerate. "
Zhu Yunwen promised it for profit and moved it for affection.
Officials from the Cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs immediately stood up to express their support. Seeing this, other officials also stood up to express their support. But expressing one's stance is one thing, and taking action is another.
When the Royal Central Bank was ready and waiting to open its doors, only officials such as Xie Jin, Zhang Zhen, and Huang Zicheng sent hundreds or thousands of copper coins, and there was no movement.
Kunning Palace.
Ma Enhui looked at Zhu Yunwen, who was a little disappointed, and said: "If the officials are not willing to deposit copper coins, then they will not be used. Princess Liao, Princess Min, and Princess Dai entered the palace this morning and each brought 30,000 copper coins."
Zhu Yunwen shook his head slightly and said: "We still have to fight for it, lest they lose their money later and say that I set up a trap to deceive them. Ordinary people will seek death if they have less money. If I take away more than 30% of their money out of thin air, and If they don’t do their best, they will definitely be resentful.”
Ma Enhui chuckled and said, "I am afraid that no matter how hard the emperor tries, he will not be able to stop their greed."
There was a bit of coldness in Zhu Yunwen's eyes, and he said: "Teach them a lesson about greed, so that they understand that only by serving the country can you have a family. Those who only care about their family and not the country will sooner or later be in trouble."
Jiangdong Gate, Qingyan Tower.
Liang Wenxing, a cloth merchant in the capital, made an appointment with Zhao Dayu, a grain merchant in Suzhou, and Hu Yuan, a salt merchant in Huizhou. The red sleeves were fragrant. After a dance, Liang Wenxing waved the red sleeves away and said to Zhao Dayu and Hu Yuan: "The matter of the Royal Central Bank, I think you two are also involved." Did you hear that?”
Zhao Dayu smiled with a smile on his face and said: "It has been a storm in the city for a long time, and everyone should have heard it. It's just that the court's actions seem to be a little inappropriate."
Hu Yuan nodded in agreement and said: "To be honest with you two, the Hu family has some connections. I heard that the emperor was in the court hall and called on officials to deposit copper coins in the bank in order to stabilize the imbalance of silver and copper. However, I am afraid that the copper in this bank will There are some shortcomings..."
Liang Wenxing took a sip of wine and said, "Your Majesty was a little reckless this time. If there is not enough copper money, the bank will not be able to survive. It is foreseeable that the bank will be closed down by then."
Zhao Dayu put down his chopsticks and said: "The copper shortage is getting more and more serious now. Yesterday, one tael of silver could only be exchanged for 640 copper coins. It was expected that the imperial court would take action. I thought that the imperial court would issue a decree, but I didn't expect that. The imperial court will set up a bank, Brother Hu, do you know how the bank can exchange silver and copper?"
Hu Yuan poured the wine, filled it up and said: "The specific information needs to be announced by the bank, but as far as I know, in order to speed up the injection of copper into the people, the imperial court will encourage people to exchange copper for it. One tael of silver can be exchanged for 680 wen. .”
Liang Wenxing and Zhao Dayu's eyes lit up and they looked at each other.
Take a look.
Zhao Dayu held back his joy and said: "If this is true, as businessmen, we should share the worries of the imperial court..."
Liang Wenxing glanced at Zhao Dayu and said with some anxiety: "I'm afraid that our sharing of worries will make the court more worried."
The purpose of the Royal Central Bank is to stabilize silver and copper. If merchants take out the accumulated copper coins and deposit them in the bank at this time, it will share the worries of the imperial court. Within two months, silver and copper will be balanced.
But if the merchants did not deposit copper coins, but exchanged the silver for copper coins and took away a large amount of copper coins, the court would be worried and even close the money bank because there was no copper coins.
Zhao Dayu said bluntly: "We are businessmen. As long as we don't violate Ming law or violate the court's laws, what can't we do? Brother Liang, when the court took away the fields, did they care about our losses? The current opportunity is just to get it back. Just a few breaths."
Hu Yuan raised his glass and said: "No one cares about businessmen. We have no status in the eyes of the imperial court. In this case, let's talk about business in business. The imperial court opens a bank, which should quench our thirst for copper."
Liang Wenxing said nothing more and raised his glass.
The two of them have made the decision to exchange silver for copper. This is indeed a good deal.
The copper shortage is difficult to understand. The more copper coins you have, the stronger your financial resources will be.
When five hundred coins can be exchanged for one tael of silver, the wealth of a merchant with one hundred thousand silver coins and one hundred thousand copper coins will be doubled.
"But if the imperial court really stabilizes silver and copper, what should we do?"
Liang Wenxing said worriedly.
Hu Yuan sneered, with disdain on his face: "The capital of the central bank is mainly the wealth of the palace, how much copper coins can it have? Damn it, can you come up with 300,000 copper coins? There is a copper shortage in the Ministry of Household Affairs, Liang Liang Brother, you must have heard that the money distributed by the imperial court to the victims of the disaster is mostly silver and rarely copper coins. What does this mean? It means that the imperial court itself does not have much copper coins."
Zhao Dayu drank all the wine in one gulp, put the glass on the table hard, and said: "There are not many copper mines in our Ming Dynasty. No matter how hard we open it, we can't keep up with the turnover among the people. If the court really has copper, why does the emperor need to call for hundreds of people to mine it?" The official deposited copper coins?"
Liang Wenxing frowned and sighed: "But the emperor is for the people after all. If we take advantage of the situation, how can we live up to the emperor's good intentions? Brother Zhao, I heard that your family is also involved in Nanyang freight..."
Zhao Dayu waved his hand and said seriously: "The Zhao family's participation in the Nanyang affairs paid the full price for the leased ship as required by the court. This is just a transaction."
"In that case, let's do our own thing."
Liang Wenxing sighed.
Hu Yuan stood up, walked to Liang Wenxing's side, put a hand on Liang Wenxing's shoulder, and persuaded him kindly: "Money and profit are the fundamental things we want. The country and the people, haha, that is the business of the court. Sacrifice the foundation for the end." But it is unwise, and businessmen must have the consciousness of businessmen.”
During the incident, Chen Jizhi returned home and arranged for his servants to invite Feng Youcai, the shopkeeper of Feng's cloth shop.
Feng Youcai came to the door with wine and food, which made Chen Jizhi quite happy.
Chen Jizhi asked: "Is the cloth shop business okay?"
Feng Youcai poured a glass of wine for Chen Jizhi respectfully and said, "Mr. Chen, it's cold now. It's less than two months until the end of the year. People's homes need to buy new clothes, and the cloth shop's business is much better."
Chen Jizhi nodded with satisfaction and arranged for a servant to bring a box over. Feng You
Only then did he see the servant retreating, looking at Chen Jizhi in confusion, and said, "My lord, what is this?"
"open to take a look."
Chen Jizhi said calmly.
Feng Youcai opened the box and looked at the half box of more than half a box of silver ingots inside. He couldn't help but take a deep breath. There were at least three hundred taels of silver ingots, but according to the salary given to him from the seventh grade, Chen Jizhi's wish to save so much money was wishful thinking.
Feng Youcai didn't ask much about the source of his money. Many officials were affiliated with businessmen, and with the official's family members' income from business, it was normal for them to have some surplus.
"What do you mean, sir?"
Feng Youcai did not think that Chen Jizhi was not smart and planned to give the money to himself.
Chen Jizhi said seriously: "You should know the news about the Royal Central Bank, right? There are three hundred and fifty taels of silver here. After the bank opens, you and the housekeeper A Hai will go to the bank to exchange the silver for copper coins and carry them back."
Feng Youcai raised his brows and said in a low voice: "Sir, I heard that the emperor called on officials to deposit copper coins instead of exchanging silver for copper coins..."
Bidige
"boom!"
Chen Jizhi stood up and said seriously: "Don't say what you shouldn't say!"
Feng Youcai quickly asked for mercy.
When Chen Jizhi saw that Feng Youcai realized his mistake, he sat down and said, "Every time the imperial court distributes salary, it is mainly based on silver. How many copper coins can a hundred officials have? Silver is cheap and copper is expensive, but the salary is still the same. Seeing that I received ten taels of silver, But when it came time to spend it, I found out that it could only be converted into six or seven taels. If this continues, who can afford it?"
Feng Youcai nodded repeatedly.
In the past, the salary issued by the court was in grain, and the price of grain was stable. If you could buy tofu and cloth with the grain, no one would lose in barter transactions at the same price.
But after the One Whip Method was implemented, the salary was changed to silver taels. The price of food was still the same, but the silver taels were no longer valuable...
Officials also have to use money to support their families. If they always lose 30% of their money for no reason, no one will be happy.
Although Zhu Yunwen "called" the officials in the court to deposit copper coins in the bank and wait for the monthly interest, annual interest, or exchange them for silver, the officials did not think so. When they returned home and looked at their money, most of them It's all silver, and just a few copper coins are not enough to pay wages to the servants, so how can they be deposited in the bank?
Everyone is in a copper shortage. If there is an opportunity to bring back some copper coins, who is willing to refuse?
Among the hundreds of officials, there were only a few who really responded to Zhu Yunwen. Most of the silent ones were pouring money when they returned home, preparing to suck blood at the Royal Central Bank.
The Ministry of Household Affairs once again wrote a letter stating the bank's problems, but Zhu Yunwen threw it aside.
On October 6th, amidst the sound of firecrackers, five Royal Central Banks scattered in different locations in the capital opened together.
The run began on the first day.
Some wealthy merchants drove carriages and ordered people to carry boxes of silver to the bank, and arrogantly exchanged the coins for copper coins, ranging from more than five thousand taels to tens of thousands of taels.
Silver goes into the treasury and copper coins go out of the treasury.
There is an endless stream of carriages...
By evening, the four branches of Tongjimen, Jubaomen, Jiangdongmen, and Jinchuanmen were already overwhelmed, and the copper coins were leaving the warehouse too fast, which was disturbing.
Fortunately, we were doing proofing at night, so we didn't have to shut down temporarily on the first day.
After Zhu Yunwen heard the report from the Security Bureau, he only smiled softly and said: "Tomorrow night, the Jiangdongmen branch will be closed..."
