Qin Xiucai was not the first to come to Chóngqìng to complain to Deng Ming, not long ago, Yu Youming and other Zhejiang generals had sent people to follow the empty ship back, and they severely sued Liu Jinge, and at the same time said a lot of bad things about Xiong Lan. At that time, Deng Ming was busy looking for fighters and preparing to pursue the retreating Li Guoying, so he did not have time to appease the Zhejiang faction, and asked them why they did not appeal to the Yamen.

Of course, this answer could not satisfy the Zhejiang faction, and the envoys pointed out aggrievedly that Yuan Xiang and Liu Jinge were close friends -- I heard that when Liu Jinge was injured in Dongchuan Mansion, it was Yuan Xiang who took care of him all the way, and he could be called the former's life-saving benefactor.

"That's why I asked Liu Jinge to do things, and Yuan Xiang was responsible for the sentence! If it were the other way around, no matter whether Yuan Xiang was angry or not, Liu Jinge would pretend not to see it. Deng Ming said in his heart, but this sentence must not be spit out of his mouth, he can only comfort these messengers with good words, saying that Yuan Xiang, a young man in his early twenties, has noble character and presides over justice, let them try to communicate with the punishment yamen first, if Deng Ming has not solved the problem when he returns to Chengdu, of course he will personally ask.

After meeting Qin Xiucai, Deng Ming felt that the problem in Chengdu was stricter than he imagined. Chengdu is in ruins, and the demand for all kinds of tools and instruments is strong, and it is only because of the extreme poverty of the people that industry and commerce continue to slump. Deng Ming devised IOUs as an alternative to currency, with the intention of stimulating the development of industry and commerce. According to Deng Ming's understanding, credit money and banks are all using tomorrow's prosperity as a guarantee to tide over today's difficulties -- creating a prosperous scene tomorrow.

After learning that Liu Jinge had collected a lot of more grain, Deng Ming, after being initially angry, soon found that Liu Jinge had created a good opportunity to justifiably promote paper money -- without Liu Jinge's unauthorized taxation, there really would have been no good way to persuade the people to exchange grain for IOUs -- and in this respect, Liu Jinge was a great contributor to the paper money reform.

Before leaving Chengdu, Chengdu's industry and commerce had already shown signs of development due to monetary stimulus, and Deng Ming certainly did not want this situation to be reversed. Credit money is collateralized by future prosperity, and this debt must not only be repaid, but also interest, and if there is no future prosperity, such a large debt will not be repaid, and industry and commerce will be beaten back to its original shape.

Therefore, Deng Ming did not want to deal with it hastily, but left the military affairs behind and carefully considered it for a day and a night. The next day, he called Qin Xiucai again: "You immediately return to the capital and tell President Sù Xiong that you can't allow prices to fall like this." ”

When he first heard that prices in Chengdu had fallen, Deng Ming thought it was a little incredible, and he took it for granted that with the influx of a large number of people, prices in Chengdu should rise steadily. But after thinking about it overnight, Deng Ming discovered the misunderstanding of his thinking, that is, the new population has no currency, so in the price rise caused by the influx of people, the fastest rise is the most important commodity, currency.

Because the new immigrants have no currency to cause prices to fall, thinking about this, Deng Ming's first thought was to give subsidies to all new immigrants. If everyone had money in their pockets, then prices would of course rise, which would spur the business community to hire more casual workers, buy more raw materials and tools, and expand production.

However, on second thought, this kind of indiscriminate subsidy seems to lead to other problems, so Deng Ming decided to distribute the subsidy to a group of people who urgently need to buy daily life and production supplies.

Deng Ming said to Qin Xiucai: "I have already written a letter to Governor Liu, asking him to immediately take out an IOU of 1.2 million yuan and send it to his fellow lifters who have just retired from the army this year to stop the price drop." If it's not enough, I'll ask him to come up with more IOUs. ”

Seeing Qin Xiucai's incomprehension, Deng Ming took out the letter he wrote to Liu Jinge and let Qin Xiucai read it. In the letter, Deng Mingxian praised Liu Jinge's political achievements, saying that he had learned through various channels that the prefect's yamen had accumulated a large amount of grain and had a reserve of at least 3 million yuan in IOUs.

“…… However, in addition to earning money, zhèngfǔ is also very particular about how to spend money. For zhèngfǔ, money cannot be used to expel foreign enemies, so it is necessary to find ways to win hearts and minds with money and exchange it for equipment. How? Let's take it step by step, the task I gave you this time is not too difficult, first help me buy the hearts of the people and the army......"

Deng Ming's letter to Liu Jinge was very long, and his tone was also very kind. Qin Xiucai pondered in his heart the intention of Deng Ming to show him this letter, and felt that he already knew the meaning of the Admiral, except for Xiong Lan, he must not leak the matter of reading this letter to other people.

The specific measure to buy the hearts and minds of the military is to pay the retired soldiers. Isn't every veteran entitled to a two-hundred-dollar subsidy valid for three years? Deng Ming asked Liu Jinge to immediately give each of the 6,000 veterans 200 yuan, and he wanted to sue them that this was an additional payment, and it would not affect their subsidy in the next three years.

Deng Ming asked Liu Jinge to consider how to publicize the significance of this distribution, so that the people around Chengdu could feel that serving in the army would have practical benefits, and the goal would be achieved. At the end of the letter, Deng Ming also gave Liu Jinge more power: "If Brother Liu feels that 200 yuan is too little for a person, the effect is not good, you can increase the amount, as long as the total cost is controlled within 2 million." I look forward to the good news from Brother Liu. ”

After reading the letter, Qin Xiucai held it in both hands and gave it back to Deng Ming. The latter received it in an envelope, sealed it, pressed its own seal, and handed it to the soldier to send away.

These fellow lifters have to buy everything, and if they have an IOU in their hand, they will use it soon. In addition to these 6,000 people, the purchase needs of new immigrants are also to be considered. Deng Ming is convinced that as long as he helps them through the current difficulties, they will create a lot of wealth tomorrow to give back to the society.

"Go back and tell President Sù Xiong that his lending scope is not limited to veterans, but these new ordinary people can also lend. However, if you want to collect interest, you can't give it in vain, after all, they are different from Tongju and Tongxiucai, and they have not contributed to the imperial court. Deng Ming thought for a while, and then said: "There should be more encouragement for those who work diligently, for example, those who are willing to work in commercial banks in their leisure time can get loans with larger amounts or lower interest rates." As for ordinary people, I think it's good to set the loan amount at 1,000 yuan, and charge 5% of the annual interest. ”

Many of the immigrants who had just arrived in Chengdu had nothing left, but even if they only farmed land and cultivated only ten acres, they would be able to pay 100 yuan to the imperial court by the end of the year. And this was only a tenth of the social wealth he had created, so Deng Ming thought that providing loans to these immigrants was a lucrative deal, let alone stimulating industrial development.

Although Qin Xiucai did not object to this, he was still worried about the price of grain. He pointed out to Deng Ming that even if the grain in the warehouse is well preserved, it will gradually be eaten up, and if a large number of IOUs are circulated, the rise in grain prices will be an inevitable trend. And at that time, if Governor Liu refused to use grain to collect the IOUs, the soaring price of grain would not be controllable.

"Yes, you're right. In case the food price cannot be controlled in the future, I will not blame President Xiong, let him do things boldly with confidence. Now the resumption of production is the most important thing, and I didn't let him send too many IOUs because I was afraid that prices would skyrocket and affect production. Deng Ming comforted Qin Xiucai and said: "I brought back a lot of grain from Jiangnan, but there is no output this year, and it is enough for everyone to eat." ”

But Qin Xiucai's doubts were still not completely dispelled. Xiong Lan and he discussed this issue carefully, and Cao Cāo believed that the military spirit was more important than the life of the grain officer, and did not hesitate to kill a grain officer in order to maintain the military spirit; Now Deng Ming said that it doesn't matter, it may be sincere, but if he needs to choose between calming public anger and keeping Xiong Lan, Xiong Lan doesn't have much confidence in his victory.

"Is there anything else you can do?" Seeing that Qin Xiucai stopped talking a few times, Deng Ming took the initiative to ask.

Shut down

"Governor Xiong plans to set up a righteous warehouse to store rice." Qin Xiucai said cautiously. Xiong Lan knew that this move would invade the power of the prefect's yamen, and would not only be vigorously opposed by Liu Jinge, but also might make Deng Ming dissatisfied: "This Yicang only does two businesses, buying one stone of rice for eighty yuan, or selling one stone of rice for one hundred and twenty yuan. The price at which it was sold or purchased is never changed, and the transaction cannot be refused. ”

Qin Xiucai's construction made Deng Ming stunned for a moment. At first, he had conceived that the capital would buy one stone of grain for 100 yuan under any circumstances, but he finally abandoned this plan due to the inevitable price fluctuations of grain prices, as well as factors such as storage costs and quality. Deng Ming only proposed a reference price of 100 yuan per stone to Liu Jinge, and let him decide the specific purchase price and purchase quantity.

And Qin Xiucai's idea seems to have cāo as xìng, as long as there is such an institution, then the people of Chengdu will have basic confidence in the price of grain.

"Many people are reluctant to use their IOUs because they are afraid that when the harvest comes, the price of grain will drop to 50 yuan, 40 yuan, or even 10 yuan or 5 yuan per stone." Qin Xiucai thought that Deng Ming couldn't understand, so he explained to him. In fact, this phenomenon of plummeting grain prices is a common phenomenon, and the high price of grain hurts the peasants, and the cheap grain also hurts the peasants. Farmers had to pay taxes after the harvest, and at this time, grain merchants and the government often worked together to keep the price of grain down, and the peasants had to sell large quantities of grain for a tenth of the price in exchange for enough silver. Sometimes, because of the persecution of the government, the peasants had to sell their rations and seeds at a low price; After the taxes are paid, the price of grain will rise in a straight line, and in order to survive, the peasants will have to borrow usury and buy back the grain they have sold at a price several times or even dozens of times.

Now there are no grain merchants in Chengdu Prefecture, and Liu Jinge, as a young man of 20 years old, does not know this kind of official method of collecting money. However, not everyone is ignorant of this technique, and after seeing the price of IOUs rising, some people feel that they hear the jǐng bell ringing.

"If you collect goods in kind as a tax, you will force the people to pay more for attrition, sometimes even several times higher than the regular tax; After changing to silver payment, in addition to the loss, it is necessary to buy high and sell cheaply, and the people really have no way to live. Deng Ming shook his head again and again.

Qin Xiucai told him that under the rule of the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, when the government and grain merchants skillfully colluded together, it was normal for grain prices to fluctuate more than ten times. Only when it is more than 100 times over, and the people can't survive by selling their children and daughters, will the government come forward to stabilize prices and let various interest groups stop in moderation.

If Xiong Lanjian's Yicang is established, the maximum range of grain price rises and falls in Chengdu will be limited to about one-third. If this system can be maintained for a hundred years, it will be a moral policy worthy of special mention and flaunting history in any dynasty.

"Now there is not even a single grain merchant in the capital, and if the governor gives this order now, no one will object." Qin Xiucai observed the words and felt that Deng Ming seemed to have been tempted to agree: "And if you buy it for 80 yuan and sell it for 120 yuan, although the profit is limited, it can also maintain the warehouse and use it for manpower, not only does you not have to ask the prefect for salary, but you can even feed back to the treasury." In addition, it can also reserve a batch of grain for the government, which will be of great use whether it is in a famine year or a war. ”

"That's right, it's imperative to build a righteous warehouse." Deng Ming nodded again and again.

As Qin Xiucai said, if this Yicang system were to be implemented outside of Sichuan, it would probably arouse fierce opposition from local grain merchants, gentry, and officials; In other areas, Qin Xiucai and Xiong Lan would not have the idea of establishing this system at all. Without food, there would be no food, and there would be no industry, commerce, or armaments. Qin Xiucai's construction made Deng Ming happy, but he didn't intend to let the bank's and zhèngfǔ's powers overlap.

Deng Ming said: "However, it is not appropriate to hand it over to the bank, I will send someone else to be responsible for this matter, and tell President Sù Xiong to reassure him that I will use this method to control the price of grain." ”

It is not a good thing not to have a grain merchant, and the things of the public are easy to be stolen and inexplicably lost. However, if Qin Xiucai does not talk to Deng Ming, the grain merchants will definitely collude with the government and oppress the people in the future...... This yicang can be purchased by zhèngfǔ, and when the price of grain falls below a certain standard, it must be purchased continuously; When the price of grain is higher than the jǐng cut-off line, it is necessary to sell stocks unconditionally. In the future, there will probably be all kinds of bizarre things happening, but the general idea should be correct.

Deng Ming pondered in his heart: "What Liu Jinge is doing now is obviously speculative, and now there are no grain merchants in the capital, most of it is because no one can speculate more than zhèngfǔ...... It seems that the direct purchase of grain should be prohibited, and in the future, it can only be purchased or sold to stabilize prices, so that private grain merchants will also appear. ”

Although Qin Xiucai was not able to ask for the right to operate this Yicang for the owner, as long as he persuaded Deng Ming to adopt it, it would be a great success. When Xiong Lan and Qin Xiucai discussed privately, they couldn't figure out Deng Ming's intentions, and I don't know if he intended to use this method to raise taxes in disguise.

"President Xiong also wants to recruit a group of cashiers and security guards......" Qin Xiucai mentioned the last thing.

"How many people?"

"Three managers, fifty cashiers, and one hundred and fifty security guards." Qin Xiucai replied honestly.

"So many security guards?" Deng Ming asked strangely, and then relieved, he remembered that Xiong Lan's security guard seemed to have to do odd jobs, and maybe he did need a lot of people.

"yes." In Qin Xiucai's impression, of course, there are more soldiers than family members, and any army is the same, he replied: "Security guards are needed to renovate the yamen, carry the machine, and make the engraving." ”

"You said you wanted fifty cashiers?"

"Yes." Qin Xiucai nodded heavily. If you can't afford to raise even 50 cashiers, wouldn't the productivity be too low? Although one hundred and fifty soldiers may not be able to afford fifty families with combat effectiveness, how can the proportion not be high, how can it appear that Xiong Lan's level of army management is out?

"Governor Xiong did a good job." Deng Ming sighed in surprise and joy. Not long after the bank was handed over to Xiong Lan, listening to Qin Xiucai's report, the bank now has dozens of cashiers - the bank needs so many salesmen, so every person must be busy with work, and there are a lot of customers! Unexpectedly, Xiong Lan would continue to expand, which fully demonstrates Xiong Lan's enthusiasm for work, and also shows that Xiong Lan is very optimistic about Chengdu's financial prospects.

"Admiral Xie compliments." Qin Xiucai hurriedly humbled the owner. He couldn't help but feel a little complacent, and pondered in his heart: "Sure enough, when I heard that so many cashiers were needed, the admiral also felt that the owner was able to govern the army." ”

"Okay, I agree." Although recruiting more people means more expenditure, what is the value of an IOU compared to the reserve of financial talents? Deng Ming agreed to Xiong Lan's expansion plan without hesitation. After Qin Xiucai reported the salary, Deng Ming's heart became more relaxed, and he secretly thought to himself: "It's really cheap, raising a cashier is not much more expensive than raising a soldier!" ”

"We also need a general manager of a bank and three bank department managers," Qin Xiucai said and solemnly reported to Deng Ming: "Regarding their selection criteria, President Xiong has set them like this......

"Hmm." Deng Mingju listened attentively, planning to discuss this standard with Qin Xiucai, and take the opportunity to learn about Xiong Lan and the others' understanding of financial issues. As for Qin Xiucai, he is very confident in the personnel selection regulations that he is about to come up with, whether it is a manager or a cashier, their height, weight, battlefield experience, and everything has corresponding regulations.

But at this time, Li Xinghan walked in: "Admiral, the upper reaches of the Qijiang River have found that a Tartar army is coming. ”

"Are you from Guizhou?" Deng Ming turned his head to look at Li Xinghan, with a look of surprise on his face.

"Yes." Li Xinghan nodded solemnly, and said a few words in Deng Ming's ear.

"I see." Deng Ming no longer discussed with Qin Xiucai, but asked him to return to Chengdu immediately, and follow the rules of President Xiong. After finishing speaking, Deng Ming laughed at himself in his heart: "Although I have an advanced understanding of banks, I am also very shallow, I should still believe in the people of this era, they will find a financial road suitable for Chengdu by themselves; Besides, this is not a selection of soldiers, I have always been in the army, if I select soldiers, maybe I can also give Xiong Lan some advice. ”

"Yes, Admiral." Qin Xiucai gratefully accepted the order to withdraw. Although there are only 200 people, in such an important heart position as Chengdu, Deng Ming not only fully agreed with Xiong Lan's recruitment of soldiers, but also gave him the right to act cheaply, what is this? This is the attitude, this is Deng Ming to Xiong Lan to show his full trust.

"Zhao Liangdong's banner, are you sure you are not mistaken?" After Qin Xiucai left, Deng Ming asked Li Xinghan.