My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 492 The System Unleashes Its Power, A Frenzy of Deposit Squeeze

Lin Bingzheng stepped into Su Ze's office again, his expression even more solemn than before. Su Ze gestured for him to sit down and pushed a draft of a memorial with the ink still wet in front of him.

Su Ze said to Lin Bingzheng:
"Zhang Ge Lao already knows about Chi Zhong and Ri Sheng Chang's matter."

"Grand Secretary Zhang originally planned to take direct action and eradicate Rishengchang completely."

Lin Bingzheng felt a wave of fear wash over him.

If he had succumbed to temptation and accepted Lin Maocai's offer to join his cause, he and the entire Lin clan would have been buried with Lin Maocai.

Su Ze continued:

"But I managed to persuade Grand Secretary Zhang."

"Prosecutor, why is this?"

Su Ze said:

"As mentioned before, Rishengchang is just the tip of the iceberg. Lin Maocai represents a group of people, and he is just someone who has been pushed to the forefront."

"If the imperial court orders the confiscation of Rishengchang today, other banks will emerge."

Su Ze then read the memorial concerning the establishment of a quality assurance deposit to Lin Bingzheng again, before saying:

"These are all the documents I will be presenting to the emperor tomorrow. Go and tell Lin Maocai the contents of the memorial today, and gain his trust."

Lin Bingzheng quickly said:
"Is the prosecutor trying to lure the snake out of its hole?"

Su Ze nodded and said:
"Using Lin Maocai's trust, you need to get in touch with the key figures of Rishengchang as soon as possible, especially to find out where Rishengchang's general ledger is hidden."

Lin Bingzheng quickly replied, "I will definitely fulfill the important task entrusted to me by the prosecutor!"

However, Lin Bingzheng also said:

"But according to my unworthy cousin, Rishengchang has many followers in the capital. If they unite to obstruct the censor's memorial, wouldn't I become a criminal?"

Su Ze said:

"You don't need to worry about that. The memorial will definitely be approved. This memorial can be considered a final ultimatum to Rishengchang. If they can repent and turn over a new leaf, the court will let bygones be bygones. If they are stubborn and unrepentant, then don't blame the court for being ruthless."

Lin Bingzheng secretly realized his mistake. Who was Prosecutor Su? He was a favorite of the emperor, who submitted three memorials every month and approved everything!
This time, they even joined forces with Grand Secretary Zhang to submit a memorial; how could it possibly fail?

I'm worrying unnecessarily!
Inside the Fujian Guild Hall.

Lin Bingzheng found an excuse to leave the Fifth Branch of the Secretariat and then went to the Fujian Guild Hall to find Lin Maocai.

After hearing Su Ze's method for securing the quality guarantee deposit, Lin Maocai's calm face showed surprise, and he quickly asked:

"Brother, is this really true?!"

Lin Bingzheng, having spent many years in officialdom, naturally possesses outstanding acting skills. He said:

"Absolutely true! Grand Secretary Zhang and Prosecutor Su have reached a consensus, and the memorial will be submitted to the Emperor soon!"

Lin Bingzheng pretended to be both annoyed and terrified:
"A 30% guarantee deposit! And we have to replace the receipts within a limited time, only accepting silver dollars! This... isn't this going to kill us? Maocai, can Rishengchang... withstand this?"

Lin Maocai's face was also ashen. Rishengchang had considered the court's targeting, but at the time, Rishengchang thought that the money shop was not just Rishengchang's own business. As long as he tied up the emperor's brother-in-law Li Wenquan and the Shanxi merchants, the officials in the court would not be so shameless as to target Rishengchang's family.

Unexpectedly, Su Ze immediately came up with the idea of ​​a quality assurance deposit.

This was truly a fatal blow to Rishengchang.

The reason is simple: if it were just about bank drafts, Rishengchang wouldn't make any money.

For money shops, whether the settlement unit is silver or Ming Dynasty silver dollars, the profit is the same; the only money they make is the handling fee.

For Rishengchang, the real money-making opportunity lies in the word "credit".

In fact, Lin Maocai had known this principle for a long time, which is why Rishengchang had been issuing more banknotes than allowed.

The so-called over-issuance means that the amount of silver notes issued by Rishengchang actually exceeded the amount of silver it held.

Merchants who deposited their money with Rishengchang were unwilling to pay the minting tax to the imperial court and wanted to save on the minting tax by using Rishengchang's system.

Rishengchang, on the other hand, simply focused on the merchants' silver and directly issued more silver notes than allowed, which is why Lin Maocai was so generous.

Ironically, it was precisely because Lin Maocai was so generous, treating the printed banknotes as if they were nothing, that people perceived him as having great wealth and were more willing to deposit his money at Rishengchang.

Once the new policies of the imperial court are implemented, Rishengchang simply will not be able to come up with that many silver dollars to pay out.

When the time comes, it won't just be the imperial court that comes to confiscate their property; those merchants who have deposited money in Rishengchang will also be able to devour Lin Maocai and his ilk!

Lin Maocai's voice trembled, and his eyes were bloodshot. "We must stop it! We must stop this memorial at all costs!"

Lin Maocai stood up and said to Lin Bingzheng:
"Thirteenth Brother! I will remember your kindness in risking your life to deliver this message! Please come with me to pay a visit to some officials and explain the memorial to them in detail, so that they can intervene to stop it!"

Lin Bingzheng was Lin Maocai's cousin, and Lin Maocai, eager to drag Lin Bingzheng down with him, was even more determined to bring him into his inner circle.

Lin Bingzheng, however, pretended to be unwilling and said:

“Your 27th brother can handle this himself; why drag me into it?”

Seeing Lin Bingzheng decline, Lin Maocai felt even more relieved.

The five departments under the Secretariat are too secretive; they must drag Lin Bingzheng down with them.

Under duress, Lin Bingzheng finally agreed to step forward and persuade the officials behind Rishengchang to stop Su Ze's memorial!
-
——[Simulation Start]——

The memorial requesting the establishment of a Bureau of Officials to handle banknotes was sent to the Cabinet.

Zhang Juzheng strongly supported your memorial, which also received Gao Gong's support.

Zhao Zhenji and Zhu Dashou refrained from speaking on financial matters, and their memorials were sent to the inner court.

Shortly after your memorial was sent to the inner court, officials from the southeast of the court jointly submitted a memorial, once again requesting the court to establish a mint in the south.

The issue of coinage between the North and South once again became a topic of discussion in the imperial court. Officials with backgrounds in the Southeast attacked the court for only minting coins in the North, arguing that it was unfair to the South.

The discussion about minting coins naturally extended to the banks, with officials from the southeast using this as grounds to oppose the "Memorial Requesting the Establishment of a Standardized Banknote Office and a Banknote Management Bureau," arguing that this was excessive interference by the court in civilian affairs and a competition for profits with the people.

In order to quell the controversy in the outer court, the Longqing Emperor kept your memorial.

——[Simulation End]——

[Remaining Prestige: 8300.]

[To fully approve your memorial proposal, you need to pay 1000 prestige points. Do you wish to pay?] Su Ze sighed. If Emperor Longqing were in good health, such a memorial would probably be approved directly.

However, nowadays, opponents in the outer court have also learned to exploit the emperor's health problems, his aversion to trouble and trouble, and to use the instigation of court disputes to oppose the central government's decisions.

It can only be said that interest groups are a powerful and troublesome opponent. They can always come up with various ways to resist stubbornly and take advantage of every human weakness to fight against you.

This shows how much pressure those reformers in history have borne.

However, Su Ze has a cheat code!

Su Ze decisively chose "yes".

[Ding! Prestige has been deducted. Please submit a memorial in real life. The simulated settlement will be carried out after the memorial is executed!]

[Remaining Prestige: 7300.]

Put down the "Portable Ming Dynasty" and now just wait for the treacherous officials to jump out on their own!
-
Zhigu.

The headquarters of the Japanese Silver Company was in the capital, but its main business was overseas. To facilitate management, the Japanese Silver Company set up an office in Zhigu.

The railway from Beijing to Zhigu is nearing completion, and Li Wenquan, as the chairman of the Zhiwu Railway, naturally has to stay in Zhigu to handle the final completion matters.

Li Wenquan, the heir of the Marquis of Wuqing, a wealthy imperial merchant, is having a headache over a money exchange called Rishengchang.

This bank, with its Southeast Asian background, expanded its operations as Southeast Asian merchants rose to prominence, competing with Japanese banks overseas.

The biggest competition was in Sakai Port. Rishengchang opened a bank in Sakai Port, where transactions were conducted directly with silver. Its customers were not only Japanese and Ming Dynasty people, but also Westerners who deposited money in their bank.

Furthermore, Rishengchang also established banks in Ryukyu and Southeast Asia, which made it even more convenient for these overseas merchants to settle accounts. Sometimes, the silver notes issued by Rishengchang were even more useful than the silver dollars of the Ming Dynasty.

The preferential minting license was the foundation of the Japanese silver company. Now that Shengchang is shaking this foundation, how can Li Wenquan sit idly by?

He dispatched his subordinate managers to conduct an in-depth investigation into Rishengchang's business model, and they quickly discovered the problems.

"Is the over-issuance of banknotes by Rishengchang really that serious?"

The shopkeeper said:

“There are cases of over-issuance at branches of Rishengchang in various places, especially in Sakai Port and Fuzhou where the over-issuance is most serious.”

“Sakai Port is a window for silver inflows. Silver prices are low and there is a relatively large amount of silver available, so Rishengchang is not afraid of a run on the bank and issues the most silver in Sakai Port.”

"Fuzhou Port has surpassed Yuegang and Quanzhou to become the first major port in Fujian, and it also has the most foreign merchants coming and going. Therefore, Fuzhou's over-issuance volume is second only to Sakai Port."

"Thirdly, there's Songjiang. After the imperial court decided to build a railway at Wusongkou, more and more ships docked there, making it the fastest-growing port in the southeast. Rishengchang's silver notes were also very useful there."

Li Wenquan nodded. Sakai Port, Fuzhou, and Songjiang were the three regions where the Japanese Silver Company had over-issued the most banknotes, according to its investigation.

"Chairman, the news has been released; now is the best time!"

Li Wenquan was still somewhat hesitant. Nowadays, all the money shops and banks in the country have the business of issuing banknotes. If Rishengchang's credit is damaged, the credit of other money shops will also be affected.

Li Wenquan was worried that this financial war against Rishengchang would spread to all the banks and money shops, and destroy the credit system that had been painstakingly built up.

Just then, a pigeon flew over the council chamber, and Li Wenquan immediately adjourned the meeting and went back to his study to quickly take out a bag of rice.

After reading Su Ze's letter, Li Wenquan no longer hesitated and strode back to the council hall.

He immediately made the decision: "Mobilize all the Rishengchang banknotes we can, concentrate our firepower, and target Songjiang and Fuzhou! Remember, we must redeem them in a grand and high-profile manner!"

"Spread the news quickly! Especially to the Commercial Daily. I've personally spoken to them. I want the news of the sinking of the Rishengchang silver transport ship to spread throughout the Southeast within two days!"

"I want the whole of Southeast China to know that Rishengchang's silver notes can no longer be redeemed for cash!"
-
March 27th.

The Fan family of Datong also joined the war.

Rishengchang's business also affected Fan's bank.

Having taken control of the Commercial Daily, the Fan family used the newspaper to launch an attack on Rishengchang.

First, news began to circulate along the southeastern coast that Rishengchang's ship, laden with silver, had sunk at sea.

At first, Rishengchang tried to suppress the news, even using his connections in the government to try and prevent its spread.

But once the news was published in the Business Daily, and even interviews with the survivors were reported, the story could no longer be kept secret.

In fact, the sinking of the silver ship did not have much impact on Rishengchang's business.

Compared to the excessive issuance of silver notes by Rishengchang, the amount of silver that sank was not much.

However, this news still caused panic in the market.

Shortly after, news came from Songjiang that several merchants carrying large denomination silver notes were refused when they went to Rishengchang to exchange them for silver.

Merchants are well-informed, and after the news spread, more merchants went to Rishengchang with their silver notes to exchange for silver. Some were successfully exchanged, while others were refused.

Panic began to spread, and all sorts of rumors flew around. Overnight, long queues formed at Rishengchang in Songjiang.

The manager of Rishengchang in Songjiang personally explained to the customers waiting to collect their silver that the head office was urgently transferring silver to Songjiang Prefecture, which calmed the crowd in line.

But bad news kept coming.

On March 29, the Yuefu Xinbao published Su Ze's memorial, proposing to collect a guarantee deposit for silver notes and prohibiting banks from directly exchanging silver.

This news has ignited the market!

Rishengchang used silver for settlements. If the court forced him to use silver dollars, Rishengchang simply couldn't come up with that many silver dollars.

At that time, we won't be able to produce silver or silver dollars!
At this time, news also broke that Rishengchang had over-issued banknotes.

Panic spread like wildfire through the Southeast business community at an alarming rate.

Merchants and ordinary people who originally held Rishengchang silver notes rushed to Rishengchang banks across the country, joining the run on these notes. Regardless of the denomination, they all hoped to exchange them for some real gold and silver.

In Songjiang and Fuzhou, the two places with the most severe shortage of credit, the Rishengchang Bank was completely destroyed. The local government had to send yamen runners to maintain order.

On April 1, news of the riots caused by Rishengchang reached the capital.

Officials from the southeast who had previously petitioned to defend Rishengchang were shocked to find that the Rishengchang banknotes in their hands were almost worthless.

The news of the chaos in Songjiang and Fuzhou was also sent to the emperor's desk through the maritime trade offices in both places.

Now the Longqing Emperor understood what these Rishengchang merchants were up to!

This time, the emperor calmed down and was no longer swayed by officials from the southeast. Instead, he immediately issued an order, based on Su Ze's memorial, and commanded the Ministry of Revenue, the Censorate, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to send people to the cities where Rishengchang Bank was located to thoroughly investigate Rishengchang's accounts!
(End of this chapter)