Upon hearing this number, Yao Guangxiao and Xu Miaojin were both stunned, looking shocked and in disbelief.
"One hundred million taels?"
Yao Guangxiao spoke with difficulty and said: "This is too much."
Zhu Yunzhen smiled slightly.
Even he didn't expect to be able to raise so much money.
When the Ministry of Revenue reported the figures, he was shocked.
This is partly due to Zhu Yunxun's high prestige among the people.
The common people believed that the Lord Yousheng would not deceive them.
On the other hand, thanks to the huge power of newspaper propaganda.
The people of the Ming Dynasty still had a very superficial understanding of advertising.
The shouts from the salesmen and the sign in front of the store are almost all they understand about advertising.
Nowadays, newspapers and periodicals are hyping up how good the national debt is and how many people are snapping up the national debt, which naturally causes countless people to follow suit.
In a sense, this is also a dimensionality reduction blow.
If it had been left to the later era when advertisements were everywhere and pervasive, and everyone was numb and didn’t quite believe it, it would naturally not have had such a good effect.
But now the people of Ming Dynasty are still very simple.
They believe whatever they see printed in newspapers and periodicals.
There are too many people buying government bonds.
People follow the crowd.
It has been the same since ancient times.
If it were not for the limited amount of private silver deposits and the restriction that only silver can be used to purchase, the number of government bonds promoted would be even greater.
After hearing so much, Yao Guangxiao became anxious.
"Your Highness Taisun, although the national debt only has an interest rate of 2% a year, if it is 100 million taels, it will be two million taels of silver a year."
"This expenditure is too much. The imperial court only has 20 million taels of tax revenue per year. One-tenth of the revenue should be used to pay interest on the national debt. It is absolutely unacceptable!"
"Besides, collecting so much money and putting it in the treasury will not be used for a while."
"If you ignore your income, spend money lavishly, and spend all your money indiscriminately, what will you use to pay interest in the future, and what will you use to repay it?"
"In my opinion, we shouldn't have issued so much money in the first place. We should quickly return part of the excess money to the people and reduce interest losses."
Borrowing money to spend, in his opinion, can only provide temporary relief.
In the long run, it will do more harm than good.
Zhu Yunzhen laughed loudly when he heard this.
"The money collected will be used for great purposes. We can't pay it back, we can't pay it back!"
Yao Guangxiao asked in confusion: "What does His Highness Taisun want to do that requires 100 million taels of silver?"
"Whether it is the construction of the new army or the expedition to Beiyuan, it is impossible to spend so much."
Zhu Yunxuan shook his head and said: "Of course it's not just to build a new army, that's just a reason."
As he spoke, he looked at Xu Miaojin and asked: "How is the Technical Research and Manufacturing Bureau doing with the anti-counterfeiting design of the new banknotes?"
"A total of 20 types of anti-counterfeiting are designed, of which 12 are in the open and are used for daily identification of authenticity by ordinary people. The other eight are in the dark and are not disclosed to the public and are used for internal identification. They are a higher level of anti-counterfeiting."
"You can rest assured that this new set of banknotes has never been counterfeited by anyone in Ming Dynasty."
"In order to strengthen confidentiality, the design and manufacturing of each anti-counterfeiting solution are strictly independent. No one knows all the anti-counterfeiting measures."
"Design and production also adopt the most rigorous methods."
"In addition, the new banknotes also use the latest paper and new technology. Even after being soaked in water, they will not rot and can be stored for a long time."
Zhu Yunxuan nodded.
"Then new banknotes can be issued."
"The exchange ratio of old banknotes to new banknotes is more appropriate in my opinion at 4:1."
The value of old banknotes has seriously depreciated.
If it is recovered at a ratio of 1:1, the court's losses will be huge.
It also fails to achieve the original intention of solving the currency problem.
"Your Highness Taisun."
Yao Guangxiao couldn't help but become a little anxious when he saw that Zhu Yunxuan didn't answer him, but instead asked Xu Miaojin about the development of new banknotes.
Zhu Yunxuan smiled and said: "This 100 million taels of silver is the reserve for the issuance of new banknotes."
"Reserve fund?" Yao Guangxiao was stunned for a moment.
Reacted immediately.
In fact, reserve funds are not new to modern times.
During the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan government issued banknotes and prepared a reserve of 500,000 taels of silver.
But it was still a mess in the end.
Lao Zhu didn't believe that anymore. The Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes were issued without any reserves at all.
Yao Guangxiao is well-informed and well-read, so he naturally knows these things.
"A reserve of one hundred million taels of silver?"
He took a deep breath: "Isn't this too much?"
Zhu Yunxuan smiled and said: "According to the reserve ratio of 20%, if you want to issue 500 million taels of banknotes, you will need 100 million taels of reserves."
"Five hundred million taels of silver banknotes?"
Yao Guangxiao was frightened again: "If so many are printed, won't the banknotes depreciate rapidly?"
"Won't!"
Zhu Yunzhen is very confident.
On the one hand, he issued banknotes, unlike Lao Zhu, who had no reserves at all.
On the other hand, with the development of commerce and industry, society's demand for banknotes will greatly increase.
In total, five hundred million taels of silver is not a lot.
This is only his early plan.
In the later stage, with the rebuilding of monetary credit, he can further reduce the reserve ratio and issue more banknotes.
With the rapid commercialization of Ming Dynasty, it can be expected that more and more money will be needed.
"The face value of new banknotes is limited to one hundred cents."
Prior to this, Ming Dynasty banknotes were printed in large quantities with consistent face values (thousands of coins).
It can even be said that most of the face values are consistent.
But in Zhu Yunxuan's opinion, this is a very speechless approach.
The excessively large face value means that it is difficult for ordinary people to make change.
In reality, circulation will be very difficult.
It can only be used in specific places.
In order for the people of the Ming Dynasty to become proficient in using new banknotes as soon as possible and get used to using new banknotes in any transaction, they must do everything possible to increase the frequency of daily use of new banknotes.
"The smallest face value is one cent. In addition, there are two cents, five cents, ten cents, twenty cents, fifty cents, and one hundred cents, a total of seven different face values."
"I've also designed the pattern."
Zhu Yunxuan took out the pattern of the new banknotes he had drawn.
There are many benefits to using patterns over original text.
At least, people who don't know how to read can also distinguish different face values through different patterns.
It can also leave a very deep impression on the people.
"After the new banknotes are issued, people can use the old banknotes to exchange for new banknotes, or they can use the new banknotes to exchange for silver."
"However, there is a certain handling fee for exchanging new banknotes for silver."
This is key to rebuilding your credit.
The common people must believe that new banknotes are equal to silver.
Only in this way can currency credit, which has now collapsed, be re-established.
Otherwise, no matter what you do, it will be in vain.
This is also the meaning of reserves.
Zhu Yunzhen had already made strict calculations.
Over the years, the Ming Dynasty printed a total of more than 200 million taels of treasure banknotes.
According to the exchange ratio of 4:1, it is also more than 50 million taels of silver.
Even if the common people exchange all the new banknotes for silver, a reserve of 100 million taels of silver will be enough.
This exchange does not have to be done all the time.
Once money and credit are reestablished, there will be no need for it.
“A bank needs to be set up for exchange.”
"As well as carrying out postal transfers of large amounts of money, replacing today's private banks."
"bank?"
Yao Guangxiao stroked his beard and said: "This is a good name, and it is also good for the court to open it, but it must be strictly supervised."
Xu Miaojin smiled and said: "The name of the bank is called 'Da Ming Bank', how about that?"
Zhu Yunxuan shook his head and said: "Although the establishment of the bank is to solve financial problems for the imperial court, more importantly, it is to make the lives of all ordinary people more convenient and improve their living standards."
"In the final analysis, the same is true for the imperial court to increase its financial revenue."
"The world belongs to the people of the world."
"The emperor is the herdsman, and the imperial court governs all directions, also to enable the people to live a better life."
"The emperor's decrees and heaven's decrees are all for the people; the monarch is the lord of the people."
"The name of the bank, according to Yigu's opinion, the newly opened bank will be called "People's Bank of China"!"
Yao Guangxiao clapped his hands and praised: "What a name. The newly issued Ming Dynasty banknotes can also be called "renminbi"!"
(End of chapter)
