Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 130 The revival of the world is not just my responsibility!

February 16th, the first year of the Jiajing reign.

Qingning Palace, Imperial Study.

After listening to the ministers' explanation of the actual situation of the underground money houses, Zhu Houcong pondered for a moment.

He knew that he was encountering structural corruption during the reform process.

The lack and failure of the original system of the Ming Dynasty allowed officials to reasonably ask the emperor to cover up their corruption.

It seemed that if the emperor did not tolerate them, the entire state machine would not be able to function.

Zhu Houcong also said at this time: "Although government offices at all levels cannot do without underground money houses and have to open underground money houses, this does not mean that they are reasonable!"

"How much grain the government offices at all levels collect and spend each year, whether there is corruption and how much is embezzled, cannot be left in a muddled account on the surface."

"If this continues, how can I know the truth about the country's situation?"

"As the ruler of a country, I need to know the expenditure of each government office and whether my Ming Dynasty is rich or poor!"

"I am not banning money houses, but I want to prevent them from counterfeiting and speculating on new money when issuing new money, just like many big households are speculating on grain prices right now."

Zhu Houcong said at this point: "So, money houses must still be set up, but they cannot be set up by private individuals. They must be jointly run by officials and businessmen."

“Why is it a joint venture between government and business?”

"I'm sure you all know why."

"If it is run by the government, people will be forced to take out loans and then be robbed. In some places, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. If the government is allowed to run money houses, it may cause civil unrest, and the court will not know about it in time;"

"If we just run it by businessmen, the court will not know the details of the money, and will not know how much is legal property and how much is stolen money, which will make it impossible for the court to truly clarify the administration of officials, and even lead to the malpractice of businessmen disrupting politics."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

"But I don't know how to make the government-business partnership work together?"

Since the emperor made it clear that he would not strictly prohibit the emergence of money houses, the Minister of Revenue Sun Jiao breathed a sigh of relief and began to inquire.

Zhu Houcong said: "In simple terms, the court authorizes and invests money in trustworthy merchants to run the business. I can even give these merchants an official status so that they can fight against corrupt officials who use their power to rob the banks they run. But this also means that the bank needs to be supervised by the court and has the responsibility to provide the court with the source of the deposited money and the details of the inflow and outflow, and even has the responsibility to only release the currency specified by the court, and even has the responsibility to keep a certain amount of gold and silver in accordance with the court's regulations in case of large-scale exchange of savings in a short period of time. Of course, it also has the responsibility to pay taxes to the court and share profits."

The cabinet ministers and nine officials all understood the emperor's intention and knew that the emperor was legalizing the underground banks in various government offices.

before.

The heads of various government offices used their power to seek rent and allowed some businessmen who had connections with them to open money houses.

then.

The government helped these merchants store their money in the official treasury, or took advantage of the opportunity of being escorted by official troops to escort it to the corresponding local official treasury.

After all, no matter what, official treasury and official military escort are safer than private treasury and private escort, and when there is a risk of bank runs, the silver in the official treasury can be used to deal with it.

just now.

Zhu Houcong wanted to legalize all of this, which meant officially authorizing merchants to open money shops directly from the emperor. At that time, the government would deposit the silver stored in the official treasury in the money shops, and the government troops would escort the money in the money shops for a fee.

The difference after legalization is that the emperor can clearly know the operating conditions of each money house, as well as whose money is deposited in each money house.

In this way, corrupt officials naturally would not dare to deposit the stolen money in money houses, and it would be difficult for them to send the stolen money back to their hometowns by means of escort by government troops, let alone launder their stolen money through money houses.

The imperial court could also avoid being unclear about the specific circumstances of the loss of military pay.

Also.

The imperial court could also increase its revenue by collecting taxes and sharing profits from these money houses.

Naturally, this will do more harm than good to the cabinet ministers and nine officials.

Because this means that their room for accepting tributes, embezzlement, and deciding how much subsidies to give themselves is greatly reduced.

After all, according to the calculation of sixteen taels per pound in that era, even a gift of one thousand taels of silver would weigh more than sixty pounds.

Therefore, if they did not use underground money houses to collect tributes, embezzle public funds, and take public profits from government offices for their own personal gain, it would be difficult for them to conceal their tracks.

Especially large amounts of collection and embezzlement.

But they couldn't tell the emperor directly that what he did was wrong.

What's more, some cabinet ministers such as Liang Chu, Jiang Mian, Mao Ji, Sun Jiao and Wang Yangming were not so greedy for money.

Therefore, they did not say anything. Instead, they were willing to support the emperor in his actions in their hearts. They also lamented that the emperor had a way of governing the country. He did not just confiscate property and arrest people, but would start from the root.

only……

While they were thinking about the difficulties involved, Zhu Houcong spoke again.

"I also opened a bank myself, which is Xingming Bank."

"You know it."

"The income of Xingming Bank is mainly used to maintain the expenses of the inner court, avoiding direct use of national funds."

"Now, I am willing to authorize the righteous merchants of the world to run money houses, which is not only to allow the court to make money with money, but also to allow people of the world to make money with money." "In this case, the money houses established by me in various places in the future will all be called banks."

"From now on, the coins used by these banks, including the Xingming Bank, must be official coins minted by the imperial court."

"In addition, these banks and money houses are not allowed to mint official coins themselves."

"It was cast uniformly by the imperial court."

"For this purpose, we need to set up another bank, which will be the only bank that can issue official currency and manage other banks, and it will be called the Ming Bank."

"The Bank of Ming Dynasty is directly under the Cabinet. The Baochao Division and the Baoyuan Bureau of the Ministry of Industry are all under the Bank of Ming Dynasty. The chief officer of the Bank of Ming Dynasty is the Cabinet Scholar, who reports directly to the Prime Minister on the operation of the Bank of Ming Dynasty and other major banks."

"The Prime Minister will then inform me of the situation of the major banks, so that I can know at any time how much money is deposited in the major banks, as well as which government offices have the most money deposited in the major banks, and which private gentry and merchants have the most money deposited in the major banks."

After Zhu Houcong said this, the cabinet ministers and nine officials acknowledged that the emperor's unification of currency rights and the establishment of the Ming Bank to manage major banks was a good policy that was conducive to the overall coordination of the world's wealth.

But many of them thought that the emperor was just daydreaming.

Because no government office wanted the emperor to know how much silver it had in deposit, and no individual wanted the emperor to know how much silver he had in deposit.

After all, the Ming Dynasty was a family-ruled dynasty, and the imperial power was theoretically supreme. In theory, it had absolute control over anyone and any asset.

Anyone who refused the emperor's rule would be committing treason and rebellion.

Naturally, no one wants the emperor to be able to take away their assets at will when he knows how much assets they have, nor does anyone want to rebel to prevent the emperor from taking their assets.

Therefore, the best way for the people of the world is to prevent the emperor from knowing how much wealth he has, just as the people of the world do not want the emperor to know how much land he has.

However, although some of them felt that this was impossible, they did not intend to say it directly in front of the emperor.

Because they couldn't say that the emperor was wrong to do so.

After all, the emperor was not taking advantage of the people. He was just legalizing and institutionalizing the financial business that was a collusion between government officials and businessmen, which was beneficial to both the country and the people.

Zhu Houcong certainly knew that if he wanted to make the world's wealth transparent to him, he would be going against the will of everyone in the world.

Therefore.

Zhu Houcong then said:
“The Master said: Knowing that it is impossible, yet still doing it;”

“Therefore, for some things, we should not ask if it is possible, but should ask if it is necessary.”

"So, I know that it is difficult to do everything I just said, but we cannot not do it just because it is difficult to achieve. If we don't do it, we will just sit back and watch the country decay day by day. Do you understand?"

"Your Majesty is determined to make innovations, and I shall follow your orders. However, I wonder what Your Majesty wants me to do now?"

"For example, who will recruit merchants to open a bank, who will solve the problem of additional expenses of various government offices after the establishment of the bank, who will be responsible for supervising the collection of taxes from various banks, etc. There are so many problems."

The Cabinet's Deputy Prime Minister Jiang Mian then stood up and began to speak.

Zhu Houcong said without hesitation: "Let the cabinet take the lead!"

Zhu Houcong then looked at Liang Chu and said, "The Yuanfu is the assistant to the elders and is experienced in planning for the country. The specific implementation will be balanced and coordinated by the Yuanfu."

Liang Chu stood up and said yes.

Zhu Houcong then said: "The underground banks that Jinyiwei seized this time, judging from the accounts, are just the deposits of many merchants and wealthy families!"

"To reassure people, I will not ask which of these are deposits from real merchants and wealthy households, and which are actually deposits from powerful officials in the world but are just registered in the names of merchants and wealthy households. All of them will be confiscated!"

"Destroy the original account book and create a new one!"

"They don't ask about the backgrounds of the people they arrest, they just temporarily detain them and let them serve their sentences."

"This is the greatest tolerance I can offer."

"The reason why we don't punish the officials in charge of various government offices is that we consider that this is due to system defects, so we can't be too harsh on them."

"But don't expect me to return the property I confiscated from the underground banks to the officials!"

"Because this is illegal income, and it is also a punishment for the disloyalty of officials who only knew how to take advantage of the flaws in the court system to make money, and did not actively offer suggestions and advice to help the court plug the loopholes in the system!"

"Although I am the ruler of the world, this does not mean that the world belongs to me alone."

"The rise and fall of the country is a matter for all people in the world. It cannot be revived by me alone as a sage and good ruler!"

"If the people of the world only seek to make a living and not to care about the country, even if I work hard, I will not be able to prevent the historical destiny of successive ups and downs."

After Zhu Houcong said this, he looked at the ministers and said, "I believe you understand what I mean."

"Sir, you understand!"

Next.

After leaving Qingning Palace, all the cabinet ministers had mixed feelings.

Jiang Mian took the initiative to ask Liang Chu: "Prime Minister, His Majesty asked you to take the lead, I wonder how you plan this matter?"

(End of this chapter)