Ask for a monthly pass, ask for a subscription

Nuoda is a Japanese country, will the income of a year mint be 1 million?

Zhu Jishi was amused by Tokugawa Iekei's question: "Your Excellency, General, HSBC pays attention to long-term interests, and it is still affordable to lose some money in the short term." If you are willing to entrust the minting rights of Japan to HSBC for the next 100 years, then HSBC can pay a seigniorage of 1 million yuan a year, starting in 1848. ”

One hundred years, 1 million per year, that's 100000! Tokugawa Ikei was so happy, and his heart said, I earned it now! This Ming Emperor Zhu is really a friend of the Tokugawa family!

"Roar, Roar!" General Jiaqing nodded in agreement.

Of course, Zhu Jishi was also secretly happy. A million silver dollars in 1848 may be a lot of money, but what about ten or twenty years later? Now Tokugawa Iekei has sold all the coinage rights in Japan for the next 100 years! Isn't HSBC the next 100 years the central bank of Japan?

"In addition to the silver dollar, HSBC is also preparing to issue gold and copper dollars in Japan." Zhu Jishi took out another gold coin and a copper coin and handed them to Tokugawa Iekei.

In fact, Zhu Jishi did not know much about money and finance, and the monetary policy he planned to adopt in China in the future was copied from Europe, that is, the composite standard of gold and silver, and at the same time issued copper coins as auxiliary coins. So in addition to discovering silver dollars, Zhu Jishi also instructed HSBC to prepare to mint gold coins and copper dollars. The gold coins were not pure gold, and each gold coin weighed the same as the silver dollar, which was seven cents and two cents. The gold content is 6 percent, that is, 4 money, 3 cents and 2 cents. One gold coin is equal to ten silver dollars. The ratio of gold and silver is about 1 to 15. It is consistent with the current gold and silver prices.

By the way. At present, the price of gold and silver in Japan is different from that in the international market. Because Japan has been locked off for a long time, it has not experienced a long period of trade surplus like China, and has accumulated a huge amount of silver. Therefore, the ratio of gold and silver in Japan is still maintained at the level of about 1:5.6, which is probably the same as the international exchange rate before the Tokugawa shogunate closed the country.

In addition, the Tokugawa shogunate has always issued gold coins, and the ratio of gold and silver to silver is about 1 to 5.6 according to the official exchange rate of gold and silver coins issued by the shogunate. If this gold-silver exchange ratio is not adjusted as soon as possible, once Japan is forced to open the country, a large amount of gold will inevitably be taken by Western merchants at low prices in a short period of time. This led to a severe financial crisis.

However, Zhu Jishi did not intend to follow the example of Western merchants and leave with a single vote, but suggested that the shogunate first buy a large number of gold coins from the market (small judgment, one centimeter, two centimeters of gold, etc.), and then adjust the exchange prices of silver coins (two pieces of silver, Ding silver) and gold coins to make them in line with international standards, and then implement currency reform, and HSBC would come forward to issue gold coins, silver dollars, and copper dollars.

"While it is not possible to fully benefit from the change in the exchange rate of gold and silver coins, millions of silver dollars can be raised." Zhu Jishi folded his fingers and calculated the account for Tokugawa Iekei. "After adopting the international standard of gold and silver comparison, the value of the gold coins minted from the 100,000 taels of gold produced by the gold mines controlled by the shogunate alone is equivalent to 3.4 million to 3.5 million silver dollars...... Even after deducting the profits and costs of the currency issued by HSBC, the shogunate would receive the equivalent of three million silver dollars! If the income from the silver coinage and the seigniorage tax paid by the HSBC Bank were included, the shogunate would receive at least 4.5 million yuan a year in net income from the issuance of coins (net of the cost of mining gold and silver). That's more than double what it is now! ”

$4.5 million!!

Tokugawa Iekei has a feeling of being hit in the head by happiness. Over the years, the shogunate's income from coinage has never exceeded 1.6 million taels, and the top sky is more than 2 million silver dollars, right? This Zhu Jishi is really a lucky star of the Tokugawa family!

Of course. Zhu Jishi's HSBC bank will not do loss-making transactions, the Tokugawa family can make a profit of 4.5 million, and the minting volume of HSBC will definitely exceed 5 million, even if there is only one percent of the minting income, it can also make a profit of 500,000...... And that's just the revenue from the newly minted currency, and it doesn't include copper dollars. If all the gold and silver coins currently circulating in Japan were to be reminted into machine-minted gold and silver coins of uniform specification and purity, it would be no problem for HSBC to make a profit of 1 million yuan a year.

Moreover, by issuing currency for the Tokugawa family, HSBC has undoubtedly become the central bank of Japan, and it is also the most powerful and reputable commercial bank, and it is self-evident how big the stakes are.

In addition, what will the Tokugawa shogunate do with the 4.5 million silver dollars? Aren't you going to use it to engage in Songun politics? In this way, Zhu Jishi was able to sell weapons to the shogunate and make another profit. Moreover, after the shogunate had a certain military strength, it could resist the invasion of Britain and the United States externally, and suppress the collapse of the strong feudal domain internally. The Meiji Restoration or something, probably won't appear on this plane.

……

The carriage shared by Zhu Jishi and Tokugawa Iekei slowly drove into the streets of Edo Castle Shitamachi, which is a direct avenue leading to Edo Castle, so it is relatively wide. The streets are lined with low-rise two-story houses, and along one side of the street are lined with shops.

Probably because of the arrival of the legendary "Ming Kingdom Sage Emperor", both sides of the street were crowded with welcoming crowds, all of whom bowed at ninety degrees, so what Zhu Jishi saw was countless backs. The Tokugawa family's Ashigaru held spears to maintain order on both sides of the street, all dressed as the ancients, no different from Tokugawa Ieyasu's time. Guarding both sides of the carriage were the "Red Mother-clothed People" and the "Black Mother-clothed People", all of whom were banner-based and were the general's personal guard cavalry. It's very interesting to dress up, and there is a big outrageous "backpack" behind it, which is the so-called "mother clothes", and I don't know what it is for? It looks like he's carrying a big baggage, which is very funny.

Retracting his gaze from the funny mother-clothed people, Zhu Jishi then flickered Tokugawa Iekei and said: "Your Excellency General, I believe you have already read the "Theory of the Founding of the First Army" written by you, right? ”

"I've read it, and I admire it very much." Tokugawa Iekei was telling the truth.

Zhu Jishi smiled and nodded, and said, "Then you have some thoughts on the question of whether Japan should open the country, right?" ”

The general nodded thoughtfully, the founding of the country is the trend of the times. In fact, there has been a consensus among the whole of Japan that it was still stubbornly clinging to the ancestral system of closing the country to the outside world, but in fact, it was worried that it would be invaded by Western powers after the founding of the country. Now there are those books published by Zhu Jishi that introduce the reality of Western countries, as well as the theory of "The Founding of the First Army" as a guide. Everyone in Japan knows that the army should be strengthened first, and then Annai, and Zuihou will open the country.

Moreover, the Japanese also realized that the purpose of secluding the country was to defend against the enemy, not to defend against friends, and still less to tie their hands and feet.

"Your Excellency Ming Gong, the shogunate can agree to the establishment of a trading hall in Edo by the four major foreign companies, including Jesejo, HSBC, Nanyang, and Lanfang, and by Jeseki University. However, there were no Westerners in the merchant houses, only Ming people or Japanese. ”

General Jiaqing pondered for a moment and said, "In addition, HSBC can also open merchants in Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagasaki that specialize in coins, loans, and exchanges. ”

Allowing HSBC to open branches in Osaka, Kyoto and Nagasaki is a huge benefit. Because only Qing and Dutch merchants were now able to trade with Japan on the island of Nagasaki Dejima, they were not allowed to enter the rest of Japan at all.

"However, HSBC must make the Goto family, who is in charge of Ginza, and the Daikoku Tsune, who is in charge of Ginza, become agents." Shogun Iekei added, "In addition, without the permission of the shogunate, HSBC is not allowed to engage in business in Japan other than money, lending, and exchange, and it is not allowed to issue loans to foreign feudal lords or vassals of the shogunate and its relatives, as well as to the imperial court and ministers. ”

If the main energy of the Manchu Qing was used to defend against the Han Chinese, then the main energy of the Tokugawa shogunate was used to guard against the daimyo and the imperial court in Kyoto.

"There is no problem, since HSBC does business in Japan, it naturally has to abide by the laws of the shogunate." Zhu Jishi agreed, and then said: "In addition, my Lan Fangxing hopes to find a suitable location in Edo Bay to build a commercial port, which will serve as a transit point for the Pacific trade route, and also as a loading point for arms exported to Japan. (To be continued......)