In the office of Emperor Wuyingdian, Chongzhen was summoning Wang Fengyuan, and the two were discussing the affairs of the newly opened postal bank.

Wang Fengyuan looked at the emperor with a worried face and said, "Your Majesty, should you really agree to let them get 51% of the equity of the Postal Bank?" In that case, we probably won't be able to control the bank. These businessmen have always been greedy for money, and they may not cooperate with the financial policies issued by the imperial court. ”

Zhu Youzhen said indifferently: "If they really don't abide by the policies issued by the imperial court, they will be punished if they should be punished, and they will take over the bank when they should take over the bank, so what's so difficult about this?" What is important is whether the Ministry of Household has a corresponding policy.

I have given you the position of the Financial Supervisory Commission, not to give you multiple titles, but to give you the opportunity to turn your ideas into decrees of the imperial court. If you can even draw up a good decree, what reason do I have to support you? ”

Chongzhen's words made Wang Fengyuan a little speechless, looking at his flushed face, Zhu Youzhen softened his face slightly, and said to him more gently: "You are the president of the Daming Central Bank, and you are also the vice chairman of the Financial Management Committee.

Therefore, when it comes to the establishment of a new bank, you should not only look at it from the perspective of the central bank, but also take into account the overall situation of the imperial court.

What is the overall situation of the imperial court, and the purpose of solving the lack of treasury is the overall situation of the imperial court. Daming now has to build water conservancy, roads, and wharves everywhere, and also provide relief to the victims, so don't spend money? Can the capital of the central bank alone sustain itself indefinitely?

And there are a few more banks, although there is more competition, but there are more branches in various places, which is obviously a good thing. The more convenient it is to exchange banknotes, the easier it is to implement. Compared with the benefits of some loans, it is the greatest interest of the bank to let the people of the Ming Dynasty recognize the use of paper money. ”

Wang Fengyuan thought for a while, and finally understood, he hurriedly arched his hand to Chongzhen and said, "The minister is ignorant, and he is still superficial in looking at things. Your Majesty is right, even if Hu Guangyuan and the others own the largest stake in the postal bank, as long as they recognize the value of the banknotes, then the bank's funds will be available to us. ”

Hearing that Wang Fengyuan understood what he meant, Zhu Youzhen nodded and continued: "It is only the first step to let paper money pass through the country, if you want to make the people believe in the silver content of paper money, in addition to using paper money to exchange silver anytime and anywhere, it is also necessary to let the people trust the court again."

Daming is such a vast place, we can't guarantee, or forever, that the banknotes issued by the imperial court can be exchanged for silver taels at any time and anywhere, without any discount.

Therefore, if you want to keep the paper money credited, you must make the people believe that the imperial court, as long as they hold the paper money, sooner or later it will be exchanged for silver taels.

Only in this way can we not worry about a large-scale run on banknotes in the event of some unexpected situation, which will become worthless. ”

"The credibility of the imperial court? Dare to ask Your Majesty, how should this be erected? Wang Fengyuan knew how to maintain the integrity of a firm, but he was a little overwhelmed by the credibility of the imperial court.

It's not that he can't think of a way, but he doesn't dare to think about it, and it's a big rebellion to use the way he runs a business to manage the credit of the imperial court.

As an old man who has experienced many stories, Wang Fengyuan knows very well that the reason why those court officials can tolerate him wandering on the edge of the court is completely because they value the turnover of the central bank and the support of the emperor.

If he dared to teach the emperor the business rules to deal with state affairs, it would really touch the bottom line of the scholars.

Zhu Youzhen didn't notice Wang Fengyuan's performance, he said to himself: "The credit of the imperial court is about the same as the credit of the firm." If you want the people to believe in the court, the court must first be honest with the people.

Since Emperor Hongwu, I began to issue treasure banknotes, and after the statistics of the household department, the number of treasure banknotes issued exceeded 4,000 billion wen, and it is estimated that there are 3,000 billion treasure banknotes left outside.

Although I have ordered to stop printing and distributing treasure banknotes after I ascended the throne, as long as there are still those treasure banknotes in society, the credit of the imperial court will never be established.

Therefore, I plan to let the Central Bank, the Bank of Shanxi, and the postal bank join forces to recover all the Daming treasure banknotes at the ratio of 10,000 Wen to 2 Wen, and convert them into one tael for every 1,000 Wen.

After the exchange to the end of April next year, all Daming treasure banknotes will be abolished, and only silver, copper, and paper money will be implemented in the future. ”

Wang Fengyuan calculated that this was equivalent to spending 60-800,000 taels of silver. Although it was a pity to use such a huge sum of money to exchange those waste papers. But since the emperor was willing to pay, he naturally had nothing to say.

In fact, in Wang Fengyuan's opinion, if this money can save the credit of the imperial court, it is really worth it.

Wang Fengyuan quickly echoed Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty is benevolent, and you don't want the people to be indebted, and your ministers are willing to do your best for Your Majesty." If the Bank of Shanxi and the Postal Bank have difficulties, the central bank is willing to undertake the task of collecting all the treasure banknotes. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him and said gently: "I don't believe it, they will be so ignorant of current affairs." Okay, tell me about this gold and silver exchange plan, how have you prepared? ”

Wang Fengyuan immediately let go of some ideas about the postal bank and introduced his own plan to the emperor instead.

Aside from the jargon, Chongzhen had a general understanding of the plan, and although he had seen more advanced economic activities, he was also only partially aware of the details of the plans behind such activities.

After thinking about it carefully, there was no obvious mistake in the whole plan, so Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "Wang Xing has been in business for a long time, and this plan is naturally good, but if you want to borrow the capital of salt merchants to buy gold, are you sure that those salt merchants will really lend you silver?" How long can they give you? ”

Wang Fengyuan cautiously replied: "Although the minister is talking about borrowing money from salt merchants, the minister does not plan to borrow money from salt merchants. In the land south of the Yangtze River, there are hundreds of industries, and rich businessmen abound.

It's just that the salt merchants had the lowest status and the largest amount of wealth hoarding, so it was easier for them to lend money.

The minister has reached an agreement with the chambers of commerce of various places that he has made friends with, and has obtained the right to use 28 million taels of funds for one year at an annual interest rate of 10%.

Since half a month ago, the minister has arranged for various outlets to exchange gold, and so far 1.2 million taels of gold have been exchanged. However, now the price of gold in the market is rising, and the capital has reached 1:8, while Nanjing is 1:9, and Guangzhou is 1:10. ”

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and said, "There is no need to say the details, tell me, what do you want me to do?" ”

Wang Fengyuan hesitated for a moment before saying: "Your Majesty said last time that a decree prohibiting gold from leaving the country was issued, and the minister thought that the time was ripe now.

But in this way, everyone in the world knows about it. It was feared that the private owners of gold would begin to sell it, and the banks would not be able to acquire the decisive gold reserves, which would affect the subsequent minting of gold coins into the monetary system. ”

After only pondering for a moment, Zhu Youzhen replied: "I will issue this decree in a month and a half, and disclose this news to the other two banks before that. With their ability, it should not be difficult to absorb a part of the gold of the people.

Coupled with the gold accumulation in their own hands, most of the gold in this big future should go into the hands of the three major banks. In this way, when the ban on gold is officially announced, there will be much less opposition.

In addition, the ratio of gold with 80% 4 as the standard purity is set at 1:15 with the price of silver in the same bank. If the market is below this price, the bank buys gold; Above this price, gold is thrown. ”

Regarding Chongzhen's order, Wang Fengyuan thought about it and suggested: "Your Majesty, a month and a half is still too long, once the news is announced to the other two banks, I am afraid that it will not take half a month, and everyone in the world will know about it." It would be better to leave the decree a month later and give less time for profiteers who want to speculate on gold. ”

Chongzhen did not doubt him, and after being silent for a moment, he nodded and agreed to Wang Fengyuan's suggestion. He then changed the subject and asked, "After I issued the edict to open the sea, has there been any change in overseas trade this year?" ”

Wang Fengyuan raised his head and thought for a long time before he spoke: "The minister doesn't know the specific trade situation now, but the minister has a few data here that can be provided to His Majesty."

Last year, it is said that the total import and export tax collected by the city shipping department was less than 200,000 taels.

According to the statistics of the central bank, the import tax of each port this year, as of September, is about 150,000 taels; The export tax reached 500,000 taels.

It cost about 125,000 taels to build the wharves, warehouses, and trading markets at each port. The fees for loading and unloading at the wharf, the leasing of warehouses, and the rental of market stalls were roughly charged 270,000 taels.

As a result of His Majesty's promise, there will be unlimited purchases of grain shipped back from overseas. By September, a total of 39,000 koku of rice, 1,700 koku of sago, 300 koku of copra, and 32,000 koku of sweet potatoes had arrived at the ports, and a total of 72,300 taels of silver had been spent.

After deducting the salaries of relevant personnel of 39,400 taels, there is a balance of about 635,000 taels.

As for the ship tax, a total of 244,000 taels were collected, and only more than 99,000 taels were paid to the bank. In addition, the overseas inspection envoys requested the appropriation of various expenses for this year, totaling 472,000.

After deducting the part of the tax silver they withheld, we have to allocate more than 310,000 taels, so that the tax silver that can be retained is only about 400,000 taels.

However, the inspection of the accounts submitted by the ministers and the concealment of the ship tax were concealed by the various inspectors. In particular, Zheng Zhilong's patrol of the Taiwan Strait has made more than half of the envoys conceal more than half of the ship taxes. ”

Zhu Youzhen smacked his lips, he was still a little happy at first, but when he heard that the last half of his income was gone, his joy disappeared.

He pondered for a long time, and then decided to endure it, "Seal these accounts, and no one is allowed to consult these accounts without the permission of my fellow household secretary." In the future, the accounts of the various inspection envoys will be sorted out by the banks in a unified manner, and only one conclusion will be reported to the household department.

As for the applications of the various inspection envoys, as long as they are in accordance with the previous agreement, they will be allocated. If the contract is not agreed, the other party is required to provide a detailed budget and report to the household department for review..."