My father is Jiajing

Chapter 361 The Right to Print and Issue Money

Although the court discussion process chaired by Xu Jie had some twists and turns, it was generally very smooth.

Of course, this was not because Xu Jie was capable and had great appeal, but because the holes in the Beijing Outer City project were too big. Coupled with the public opinion during this period, no one dared to stand up and oppose the "Beijing Special District" plan.

Because to oppose the Beijing Special District plan at this time would be to slap oneself in the face, and the seriousness of the matter has reached the point where it is fatal, so the officials in the capital who are qualified to participate in the court discussion will naturally not really risk their own lives.

Although before, because of the Great Ceremony Debate and the entry of King Xingxian, oh no, Emperor Ruizong into the temple, Empress Fang and Emperor Renzong into the temple, everyone could argue fiercely, but at that time all the officials knew that this "argument" was nothing more than a dispute over the right to interpret morality and law. Winning the argument would bring great benefits, and losing the argument would not kill anyone.

But if they stubbornly prevent the development of the Beijing Special District now, not to mention whether they will be accused by the emperor of sabotaging the construction of the capital and be executed, the hundreds of thousands of people from the outer cities who have been looking forward to the construction of the outer city for decades will rush to their homes to greet them one by one.

Once they are greeted with criticism by the angry people, even if their current colleagues and writers glorify them as upright and righteous people who died in the line of duty, they will not be able to stop the boos from the people.

Moreover, doing so would undermine the credibility of the court. Therefore, once the whole family was shot by the angry people in the outer city, as long as the court and the emperor realized that the wind was not blowing in the right direction, they would immediately choose to stand with the people and condemn these corrupt officials and evil people who were ruining the people's livelihood!
Therefore, when Xu Jie chaired the court meeting on upgrading the outer city of the capital into the special district of the capital, it was unsurprisingly recognized by all the officials participating in the meeting.

Of course, although they recognized it, they still had reservations about using business techniques to build the Beijing Special District. Therefore, in the final dispute over face, the court was only willing to grant the Beijing Special District fifty years of autonomy. Moreover, during these fifty years, the Beijing Special District had to pay money to the Ministry of Revenue according to the corresponding annual tax ratio, otherwise the court had the right to take back the district's autonomy.

This proposal was naturally passed without any surprise.

After all, this is also an art of compromise, and an explanation must be given to other landlords and literati in the world. Otherwise, except for the common people in the capital who have their own interests at stake, they will not oppose them, it is hard to say about the landlords and literati in other places.

Therefore, this clause is also to provide an explanation and a way out for these powerful conservatives, so that they can also understand that the court is also actively responding to this matter and is not doing nothing to allow this special zone for merchants and merchants to appear openly.

After the court discussion ended, Emperor Jiajing immediately issued an edict to have Prince Yu's Mansion, the Ministry of Revenue, Shuntian Prefecture and representatives from the palace hold a four-party meeting to formally discuss the powers of the Beijing Special District Development Bank.

The candidates sent by Zhu Zaigui were Gao Gong and Hai Rui, and the one sent by the Ministry of Revenue was a vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue. The representative from the palace was the eunuch Chen Hong, who was a former financial expert.

Before coming here, Gao Gong and Hai Rui had already received Zhu Zaigui's advice, so they naturally understood what they were fighting for and what they were in charge of. If they disagreed, then they would not do it. Anyway, whoever wanted to do it could do it without the silver bank.

Therefore, in this four-party meeting, Gao Gong and Hai Rui also gained great initiative.

The final plan was that the Shunyi Industrial Park represented by Prince Yu's Mansion would contribute 500,000 taels of silver, the Ministry of Revenue would contribute 200,000 taels of silver, Shuntian Prefecture would contribute 10,000 taels, and the palace would contribute 50,000 taels, totaling 760,000 taels of silver as the start-up capital for the Beijing Special District Development Bank.

Since Shunyi Industrial Park, which represents Prince Yu's Mansion, has made the largest investment, the management and operation rights of Beijing Special Economic Zone Development Bank lie with Prince Yu's Mansion, while the Ministry of Revenue has the auditing power that was agreed upon before, and the palace has the supervisory power. As for Shuntian Mansion, it has nothing but the right to subsequent dividends.

Moreover, according to the requirements of the talks, the Ministry of Revenue must transfer the old craftsmen affiliated with the Banknote Bureau and the Printing Bureau to the management of the Beijing Special District Development Bank, and the Ministry of Revenue shall not interfere in the banknote business of the Beijing Special District Development Bank in the future.

The Ministry of Revenue agreed to this proposal without even thinking about it. For the Ministry of Revenue, the Banknote Bureau and the Banknote Printing Bureau, two half-dead ninth-rank small offices, were dispensable. If it weren't for the need to issue some harder-than-toilet-paper banknotes to pay the salaries of the royal family members every year, the Ministry of Revenue would not want to continue to operate these two small offices.

Now that someone wants to take over, they naturally support it with both hands.

After all, these people's relationships have generally been transferred away, so the Ministry of Households no longer needs to support them.

You should know that since the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, the credit value of Baochao has been declining. Originally, there were five small offices in the Ministry of Revenue responsible for Baochao: the Ministry of Revenue Baochao Tizhu Division, the Ministry of Revenue Banknote Bureau, the Ministry of Revenue Banknote Printing Bureau, and the Ministry of Revenue Baochao Guanghui Treasury. However, after more than a hundred years, only three are left.

Moreover, the officials in charge of these five departments and warehouses are either ninth-rank officials or simply low-ranking clerks who have not entered the mainstream.

This shows how contemptuous the Ming Dynasty was towards paper money, and they did not take it seriously at all.

From the very beginning of its design, the idea was to use printed paper to get social wealth for free.

But unfortunately, the common people are not fools. After Zhu Baba printed treasure notes indiscriminately, the people of the Ming Dynasty immediately converted the official value of the treasure notes into actual purchasing power value.

Therefore, under Zhu's unremitting efforts, the good credit currency system collapsed in his generation.

Later emperors were troubled by the large number of royal family members and the tight tax collection situation of the court. Therefore, after several rounds of royal family regulations reform, most of the royal family salaries began to be paid in the form of worthless treasure notes.

Therefore, the fact that the Ministry of Revenue can still maintain one or two small offices specifically responsible for printing treasure notes is also thanks to these royal family members.

Otherwise, this money-losing government office will be closed sooner or later.

Now that someone is willing to take over, the Ministry of Revenue is more than happy to do so.

Therefore, these two government offices were smoothly handed over to the Beijing Special District Development Bank which was about to open.

Zhu Zaigui was so happy to have the right to print money.

This power may be worthless in the hands of the court, but it is different in the hands of Zhu Zaigui.

This is simply a financial nuclear weapon in Zhu Zaigui's hands.

With this power in hand, as long as it is properly controlled, why would you still worry about not having money?
This is simply a mountain of gold and silver sent by God!
(End of this chapter)