My father is Jiajing

Chapter 399: Where is my immortal spirit?
Emperor Jiajing sat on the cushion in the Yuxi Palace with a dazed look on his face. He was filled with shock and could not calm down for a long time. He even couldn't believe that there was such a crazy thing in the world.

If this is all true, then his enlightenment through cultivation must be true too!

Emperor Jiajing took another look at the secret report from the East Factory in his hand. Although the East Factory was now under the charge of Chen Hong, Huang Jin was still in charge of the situation on Prince Yu's side, so this secret report was naturally sent by Huang Jin.

"Twenty million taels? Twenty million taels? Is this true?"

Emperor Jiajing felt that his brain was not enough. He never dreamed that Zhu Zaigui could borrow a huge sum of 20 million taels from these businessmen in one go!

You should know that the annual tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty is only six or seven million taels, and a large part of this six or seven million taels of treasury revenue is not in cash, but in the form of grain, cloth and other valuable items.

Therefore, the actual silver tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was probably only around three or four million taels of silver a year.

But now Zhu Zaigui borrowed 20 million taels of silver from those stingy salt merchants, Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants and other wealthy merchants with just one mouth. How could Emperor Jiajing not feel that this world was strange?

Huang Jin replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. When I saw this secret report, I felt as if my head had been cracked. I couldn't believe it at all. But after I confirmed it again and again, I had to believe that it was true."

Emperor Jiajing sucked in a breath of cold air, feeling that all the spiritual energy he had cultivated over so many years would be washed away by this earth-shaking news.

Emperor Jiajing asked: "How did San'er borrow it?!"

Huang Jin replied: "I heard that Prince Yu first united all the major banks and money houses to form an organization called the Ming United Reserve, and appointed Gao Gong as the chairman of the reserve. Then Prince Yu borrowed 20 million taels from the Ming United Reserve on the pretext of rebuilding the north."

"At the beginning, no one was willing. Later, I don't know what method Prince Yu used, but these people actually agreed. Moreover, they desperately rushed to lend it to Prince Yu, fearing that others would give too much and they would give too little."

When Emperor Jiajing heard this, he took a deep breath again. This was truly beyond the limits of his cognition.

He never thought in his life that there would be people scrambling to lend money to others. Isn't this crazy?
Has there ever been a single loan of money that was easy to get back from ancient times to the present?
But why did they fall for San'er's trick? Why were they willing to lend so much real money to San'er?

Are they all stupid?

Emperor Jiajing asked again: "Why are they willing to lend it?"

Huang Jin thought for a moment and then said, "I heard that Prince Yu wants to set up a new Northern Construction Bank, but this bank is not directly controlled by Prince Yu, but supervised by the Ming Federal Reserve, and the internal management is decided by the shareholders' meeting. However, shareholders need to subscribe with silver. Whoever pays more will be the major shareholder of the Northern Construction Bank and can give priority to recommending the president."

"So, these salt merchants, Shanxi merchants, Anhui merchants, and local tycoons in the capital, they are all trying their best to become major shareholders of the Northern Construction Bank, so as to extend their own businesses to the entire five northern provinces through the Northern Construction Bank." After hearing what Huang Jin said, Emperor Jiajing no longer found it strange.

Emperor Jiajing praised: "San'er's conspiracy is really powerful! But why did he say it was a loan? Hasn't this money been subscribed to the shares of Northern Construction Bank?"

Huang Jin replied: "According to Prince Yu's meaning, the shares subscribed by those big merchants in Northern Construction Bank belong to the funds of Northern Construction Bank. The prince said that since he is not the owner of Northern Construction Bank, if he wants to use this money, he can only borrow it."

"Moreover, the 20 million taels of silver were not loaned out all at once, but were divided into five years, 4 million taels per year. The repayment will be divided into ten years. The first five years will be interest-paid, and the next five years will be equal payments of principal and interest. Therefore, Prince Yu loaned out the 20 million taels of silver."

"At the same time, the prince also allowed the debt to be traded freely. When it came time to repay the money, only the debt was recognized, not the person. Therefore, after some consideration, these people agreed to the prince's suggestion without a second thought, and began the battle for shares in Northern Construction Bank."

"Finally, I heard that the Shanxi merchants paid 8 million taels to buy 40% of the shares and became the major shareholder of Northern Construction Bank. They also nominated Qiao Wanjin, the head of the Shanxi Merchants Bank, as the president, Qian Qiben from the Salt Merchants Bank as the vice president, and the Huizhou merchants as the supervisor."

"That's how the Northern Construction Bank was established. Now they have also chosen a new site, near the Temple of Heaven outside Chongwenmen. They bought a piece of land in the Guildhall area planned by Prince Yu to build the headquarters of the Northern Construction Bank."

After listening to Huang Jin's explanation, Emperor Jiajing felt that his horizons had been broadened.

Emperor Jiajing praised: "San'er is really smart. I can't count on Yan Song, Xu Jie and others, except for playing tricks with me in the cabinet. They are not capable at all. They just look at the trivial matters in the Ministry of Revenue every day and calculate them. Is it interesting?"

"Does the Ming Dynasty have to support such a group of short-sighted idiots? They won't share my worries. It seems that I did the right thing by retaining San'er's power to supervise the country this time. Look at how San'er got me 20 million taels of silver in the blink of an eye. Can these people do it? Can they do it?"

Emperor Jiajing also contentedly affirmed his own contribution.

He thought that Zhu Zaigui was able to accomplish such a great thing, and the most important thing was his contribution and support, otherwise Zhu Zaigui would definitely not have been able to accomplish such an exciting thing.

Emperor Jiajing was so excited that he read the secret report in his hand again. The more he read it, the happier he became. Even the wrinkles on his face became more and more with his smile. He no longer looked like an immortal and looked like an old man who had made a fortune.

Emperor Jiajing was excited for a while, then said to Huang Jin: "Since San'er has already let Gao Gong be the head of the Ming Dynasty Reserve, I can't be stingy. I will issue an order to transfer Gao Gong to the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, specializing in the Ming Dynasty Reserve, and not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue. In addition, Zhang Juzheng will be promoted to the junior minister of the Ministry of Rites, in charge of the affairs of the Beijing Special District."

After making these arrangements, Emperor Jiajing thought for a while and said, "Also, inform the Imperial Household Department and the Cabinet. Since Prince Yu is still the regent, all memorials from the palace and the draft memorials from the cabinet must be copied and sent to Prince Yu's mansion, so that Prince Yu can continue to participate in government affairs. Otherwise, he will have too much free time as the regent."

Huang Jin bowed and said yes, then began to draft an edict according to what Emperor Jiajing had just meant, to inform the cabinet and Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others mentioned in the edict.

(End of this chapter)