Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 105 The power of public opinion, financial revolution!

If someone asked, what would you most want to do if you traveled through time to the Ming Dynasty?
That must be the Industrial Revolution!

In fact, the development of feudal society was almost stagnant.

The improvements that could be made after the Opium War, such as making guns and cannons, building factories and railways... could all be carried out in the Ming Dynasty.

Because the social basic conditions of the two are actually not much different.

But Zhu Yunhuan knew better than anyone that the Industrial Revolution must be based on huge amounts of capital.

The ability of agricultural society to pool funds is very weak.

Even countries are no exception.

Take the Qing Dynasty as an example. Before the Opium War, the Qing government’s annual fiscal revenue was only 40 million taels.

After the Opium War, the Qing government became increasingly corrupt and its situation deteriorated.

However, because of the "Westernization Movement", small-scale industrialization was initiated to a certain extent, and fiscal revenue actually increased sharply.

By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government's annual fiscal revenue had increased to 260 million taels.

But even that wasn't enough.

Because industrialization is both a tool for making money and a huge beast that devours gold.

Capital is most cruel and ruthless during its primitive accumulation.

To implement the industrial revolution in Ming Dynasty, a huge amount of capital investment is required.

Without the money, the process will be very slow.

Therefore, the first thing Zhu Yunhuan had to solve was the problem of "money".

Opening a bank is the fastest way to make money, and it has been proven to be successful by later generations.

As for the social foundation, the people's sentiments and the national conditions... According to Zhu Yunhuan's understanding, in the late Qing Dynasty, money shops and silver banks developed rapidly, which gave rise to many wealthy people who were as rich as a country.

The late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty were both agricultural societies and feudal eras.

Although there are hundreds of years between them, the actual social foundation is not much different.

If it worked in the late Qing Dynasty, it will definitely work now.

What's more, Zhu Yunhuan's ideas were far more advanced than the money shops and silver banks in the late Qing Dynasty.

With the support and guarantee of the Ming Empire, the initial capital was much more substantial than those of private money houses and silver banks.

At this time, the power of "Da Ming Daily" began to emerge.

With the vigorous publicity in newspapers, the streets and alleys were full of discussions about the Ming Bank and the new banknotes.

"Have you read the newspaper? Today, another wealthy businessman deposited 300,000 taels of silver into the Daming Bank."

"Wow, he's really rich! Why haven't I heard of this wealthy businessman before?"

"These days, who has money doesn't hide it at home? Are you really going to show off your money in the streets?"

"Yes! If it weren't for the fact that Daming Bank doesn't charge custody fees and also offers interest, who would move the money out of the cave and deposit it in Daming Bank?"

The simple and kind-hearted people did not think that this was just a story made up by Zhu Yunhuan.

The so-called wealthy businessmen are all dressed up by him.

If this method happened in later generations, it can only be described as despicable.

People in later generations, who have experienced advertising bombardment and various scams, mostly scoff at such stories.

But the knowledge of the people of this era is far from comparable to that of later generations.

They are really simple!

"Do you think this Ming Bank is really reliable? I have a few taels of silver and want to deposit it, but I'm afraid..."

"What are you afraid of? Didn't you see what was said in the newspaper? All those wealthy businessmen deposited their money in the Ming Bank, hundreds of thousands of taels. They weren't afraid, so what are you afraid of?"

"That's right. Even if the Ming Bank needs money, it doesn't need your little money."

"There are new banknotes. Have you exchanged them? They look so colorful and beautiful. They feel different."

“It’s definitely different, but can it really be used?”

"Why not? Didn't you read what's in the newspaper? With the new banknotes, you can go to Daming Bank and exchange them for silver. It only charges a 5% handling fee."

"Not only that, you can also buy grain from the granary, and use it to pay taxes to the court."

"When exchanging silver, the Ming Bank is fair and honest, unlike other places that always try to take advantage of it."

In fact, in the era when silver was used as currency, transactions were very inconvenient.

What is shown on TV is taking out money, putting it on the table, and walking away. This is just a romantic imagination of modern people in later generations.

In fact, when you take out silver to pay, you not only have to weigh and cut it, but you also have to carefully check its quality.

Different qualities have different values.

As for the officially recognized large ingots of standard silver, they were only official silver and were rarely used by the public.

If we could use paper money, the value could be understood at a glance, which would naturally be a hundred or a thousand times more convenient.

Therefore, the demand for paper money among private commodities has actually always existed objectively.

As a general equivalent, money must be convenient, fast and practical.

The disadvantages of precious metals compared to paper money are obvious.

The biggest problem with paper money is its credit.

"That's what you say, but is it really possible?"

The people still have doubts.

The lesson of the Ming Baochao lies before us.

Once bitten, twice shy.

"Hey, to be honest, I went to Daming Bank yesterday and quietly exchanged some new banknotes. Today I took the new banknotes to the granary to buy some grain to try. If you are interested, you may as well go and witness it together."

A man took out a stack of new banknotes from his pocket.

"Okay!"

"Okay!"

The crowd responded one after another, and soon, a group of people walked towards the granary together.

When they arrived at the granary, the man took out new banknotes and said, "Buy a stone of rice at the official price."

Unexpectedly, the rice seller took a look at the new banknotes in his hand, and immediately frowned and said, "I'm sorry, we only accept silver and copper coins here, not banknotes."

"Why?" The man said angrily, "Didn't the Ming Daily publish an announcement from the imperial court that all grain purchases must be made with the new banknotes?"

The officer raised his thumb, pointed over his shoulder and said, "I don't know about the imperial court's announcement, but I know the granary master's order. Anyway, the banknotes are not acceptable, no matter whether they are old or new."

"Go wherever you want. You can't buy grain with the treasure notes."

"If you dare to gather a crowd to cause trouble again, I will immediately arrest you."

Hearing this, the crowd exploded.

“It turns out that it’s not possible at all!”

"What's the use of new banknotes if they can't buy food?"

"They are all scams. Don't bother exchanging new banknotes!"

……

Just as everyone was talking, a voice, neither loud nor soft, sounded coldly.

“Who said the new banknotes can’t buy food?”

Yang Shiqi came over with several followers.

He was wearing cloth, not official uniform.

The grain seller naturally didn't recognize him, and immediately said angrily, "Master, I said it."

Then he said loudly, word by word, in an extremely arrogant tone: "Payments cannot buy food!"

Yang Shiqi laughed and said, "You guys don't care about the imperial court's orders?"

The officer sneered and said, "The granary manager said that this was all a whim of His Royal Highness the King of Wu. It was a foolish thing to do."

"The grain in the granary is the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty. We can't let a piece of paper cheat us out of it."

"This order will be repealed in a short time."

"We are not allowing it now in order to help the Ming Dynasty's granaries save some food and reduce losses for the court."

"Who are you? How dare you take charge of the granary?"

"Why don't you retreat quickly!"

"If you dare to incite the people to gather and cause trouble again, don't blame me for being ruthless. I will have you arrested immediately." "How dare you!" Yang Shiqi walked in front of him, grabbed a handful of rice, watched the rice slowly flow from his hands, and asked with a smile: "May I ask what rank your granary manager is? How dare you question the order of the King of Wu and disobey it?"

"That's none of your business." The officer said arrogantly.

Of course, he knew the real reason very well.

If people used silver or copper coins to purchase grain, they could use the excuse that the silver or copper coins were of insufficient quality to ask the buyers to pay more money.

You can also deduct a little bit of silver on the scale.

The profits from this are considerable.

If you use treasure notes, you will have nothing.

Because His Royal Highness the King of Wu clearly stated that new banknotes, regardless of whether they are old or new, cannot be discounted for any reason.

Since ancient times, cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing his parents.

Of course, the officials and runners in charge of the granary were not happy about this.

Find all kinds of ways and excuses to resist.

"Of course I take care of it." Yang Shiqi stepped forward.

The officer was about to explode when he saw the follower behind Yang Shiqi reach out and take out a badge and show it to him.

The officer's eyes suddenly widened.

"Jinyiwei?"

He fell to the ground with a thud.

"Go and call the official in charge of the granary." Yang Shiqi gave an order, and the Jinyiwei behind him immediately went inside.

Soon, an official came with several runners.

Yang Shiqi stared at the patch on his official uniform and said, "I think I am a high-ranking official, but I dare to say that the order of the regent King Wu is wrong and that I want to recover the loss for the country. It turns out that I am just a lowly ninth-rank official."

"Sir!" The official smiled flatteringly and knelt down.

"You are just a ninth-rank official, yet you dare to openly defy the orders of the King of Wu? How many heads do you have?" Yang Shiqi asked with a smile.

He came up from the bottom.

He was just assigned to this post not long ago.

Therefore, it is clear that "dealing with the King of Hell is easier than dealing with the little devils."

In the eyes of the court officials, let alone the ninth rank, even a seventh rank county magistrate was a relatively insignificant official.

But in the eyes of ordinary people, the yamen runners who eat public food are people they cannot afford to offend.

The ninth rank was a great master that ordinary people only dared to kneel down to!
It is precisely these low-level officials who are so bold as to dare to do anything.

The King of Wu had just taken over as regent and had just killed a number of officials from the Ministry of Public Administration a few days ago.

The officials in the court knew very well that if they openly opposed the King of Wu at this time, they would be stretching their necks and offering themselves to be chopped off by the King of Wu.

But the petty officials are different.

The officials dare not, but they dare!
Even though they knew there was a risk of losing their heads, they still dared.

"Please spare my life, sir! I will never dare to do it again!"

The officials in charge of the granary had no idea of Yang Shiqi's identity.

But since the other party could bring the Jinyiwei with him as bodyguards, he was obviously an important official of the imperial court.

"no more chance!"

Yang Shiqi shook his head and said, "I want to borrow something from you."

The official was stunned and asked, "What do you want to borrow, sir?"

Yang Shiqi sneered and said, "Of course it's your head!"

Before the officials could react, Yang Shiqi had already ordered the Jinyiwei accompanying him: "Catch them all and behead them in public."

The Jinyiwei immediately stepped forward and arrested everyone, then they raised their swords and chopped down all the officials and runners in charge of the granary.

Yang Shiqi stood on the high platform and shouted loudly: "Fellow villagers, I am a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy and the teacher of His Royal Highness the King of Wu."

"His Royal Highness the King of Wu has issued an order that from now on, the granary will only accept new banknotes, not silver or copper coins."

"If you want to buy grain, you can go to the Daming Bank and exchange your silver and copper coins for new notes before buying."

"There are officials who refuse to accept the new banknotes and deliberately interfere with the process. These people are role models."

After that, human heads were hung high from flagpoles.

"it is good!"

"it is good!"

The people below shouted loudly, deafening the ears.

……

The next day's "Da Ming Daily" reported the incident in full and once again solemnly reiterated the King of Wu's order.

Anyone who disobeys orders will be killed without mercy.

With all kinds of hype and publicity, the new banknotes quickly became popular among the people.

"New banknotes are more convenient. In the past, when I used silver, I had to identify the purity, weigh it, and cut it into sizes. It was very troublesome. Now, with new banknotes, it is clear at a glance."

"Yes, it's very convenient! It doesn't weigh much when I put it in my waist bag, unlike the copper coins in the past, which were very heavy."

"Do you think there will be counterfeit money?"

"New banknotes are not old banknotes. How to distinguish the authenticity is all in the newspapers. Look at the texture of the new banknotes. You can feel it with your hands. Counterfeiters can't make it like this."

"I haven't seen any counterfeit money yet."

"It's impossible to make it. It's impossible for ordinary people to make counterfeit bills that are exactly the same."

"It seems that we really have to use new banknotes in the future."

……

With the full publicity of the "Da Ming Daily" and the pressure of a series of compulsory measures taken by Zhu Yunhuan, the new version of the Ming Baochao was quickly rolled out among the people.

At the beginning, even many officials did not believe in the new banknotes.

After receiving his salary, he immediately went to the Ming Bank to exchange it for silver and copper coins.

But soon, they found that there was no problem at all in using the new banknotes.

Its acceptance is actually higher than that of silver and copper coins because it is so convenient.

After confirming that the new banknotes could be used to purchase grain, all walks of life quickly accepted the new banknotes.

So the officials secretly exchanged the silver and copper coins for new banknotes again.

Zhu Yunhuan issued new banknotes with 5 million taels of silver as a deposit.

After the first batch of new banknotes were issued, a large number of people rushed to the bank to exchange them for silver.

Zhu Yunhuan had only one attitude towards this - change!

We will exchange as much as you want.

The silver in the national treasury quickly flowed out like water.

At the lowest point, there was less than two million taels of silver left in the Ming Bank's warehouse.

Even Yang Shiqi was a little panicked.

Zhu Yunhuan was still confident.

The development of things was just as he expected.

When there were less than two million taels of silver left, the people finally began to believe in the credibility of the new banknotes and the credibility of the Ming Bank.

The new banknotes are not the previous Ming Dynasty treasure notes.

But it is real money.

So, the people once again exchanged their silver and copper coins for new banknotes.

This inflow and outflow actually allowed Ming Bank to make a huge profit in handling fees.

The value of the new banknotes was officially stabilized and was generally accepted by all sectors of society.

It gradually spread to the surrounding areas with Jinling as the center.

The Ming Dynasty was quietly launching an unprecedented financial revolution.

……

(End of this chapter)