Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

After some growth, Zhang Shikang lay on the bed contentedly.

Dong Xiaowan became what Kou Baimen looked like just now, and Kou Baimen, who had just recovered, acted as a technician and massaged Zhang Shikang's legs.

"The money house is inevitable, and I will tell Your Majesty next year at the latest.

However, the money shop that my husband wants to run is not a private business, but an official money shop that relies on the credit of the imperial court.

It will be independent of the Ministry of Revenue and other government offices, and you will be the ones at the helm.

Come to think of it, maybe you can get a job as an official in the future." Zhang Shikang said with a smile.

What he meant by relying on the credit of the imperial court was referring to the central banks of later generations.

Given Zhang Shikang's current status and position, he would not look down upon such small businesses as private banks.

But the central bank is different. If done well, it can greatly promote business development.

Using interest as bait, they made wealthy people deposit their money in money shops, and then used part of this money to lend to people who needed start-up capital to do business.

Of course, the lending interest rate must be much lower than that of private banks, and there must be strict screening of the borrower's repayment situation and investment direction.

As a beneficiary of nine years of compulsory education, Zhang Shikang knows very well that money is only valuable when it is circulated.

But placed in the dark silver cellar, it is just a pile of metal.

The imperial court abolished most of the gentry and wealthy families, which not only cleared up the court, but also caused many big businessmen to lose their backers, and either had their properties confiscated or were beheaded.

The rest have to participate in normal market competition like other merchants.

The Ming Dynasty previously emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce to a very serious degree. Now that Zhang Shikang has loosened all the shackles, the Ming Dynasty, a blue ocean of business, has just begun to stir.

Too many ordinary people with business acumen are unable to participate due to lack of start-up capital.

When the people have needs, the government must take action.

On the other hand, there was another important reason why Zhang Shikang wanted to set up a central money house - to issue paper money.

Although silver notes have the attributes of paper money, they are just a kind of exchange voucher after all, and the smallest denomination is more than fifty taels.

For ordinary people, fifty taels was already a huge sum of money, and their daily life consumption was still mainly in the form of copper coins, supplemented by small change.

The private minting of copper coins was very serious in the Ming Dynasty and it could not be stopped despite repeated bans, resulting in dozens of different copper coins for the same Tongbao.

The purity of copper coins varies, so the exchange rates of money houses are naturally different.

One thousand government-minted copper coins were exchanged for one tael of silver, while privately-minted copper coins required one thousand two hundred or even one thousand five hundred coins to exchange for one tael of silver, which caused great losses to the people.

Moreover, copper is not suitable as a general equivalent. Although silver can be used, transactions are very troublesome and the silver ingots have to be cut open and weighed repeatedly.

But it is different with paper money. As long as we put more effort into anti-counterfeiting and rely on national credit, the transaction process will be much simpler.

Of course, the biggest problem with paper money is getting the people to accept it.

After all, the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes really harmed the common people, and many people have psychological trauma from paper money.

But that's all in the future. Zhang Shikang believes that as long as we lay the groundwork and provide guidance, everything will be within our control.

"I will obey my husband, but how could His Majesty agree to let a group of us women serve as officials? That's ridiculous." Kou Baimen said mischievously.

"That's not necessarily true. Don't you think about who your husband is?" Zhang Shikang said arrogantly.

Of course he was just pretending, but in fact it was because he had already roughly figured out Brother Chongzhen's temperament, and Brother Chongzhen would most likely support anything that could help the revival of the Ming Dynasty.

Think about what happened before. If using female relatives could solve the problems of the Ming Dynasty, I guess Queen Zhou would have been pushed to the forefront by him.

During the last few years of the Ming Dynasty, Brother Chongzhen almost went crazy.

The couple and their two companions chatted with each other intermittently, and soon they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Just as happy times are always short, the time we spend together is also always short, and in the blink of an eye it was June 25th.

Zhang Shikang is finally going to fight the bandits.

On this day, Zhang Shikang first experienced the separation from Chen Yuanyuan, Kou Baimen and other women.

When he arrived at Deshengmen, wearing golden armor, with the emperor's sword on his waist, riding a horse, and accompanied by Sun Weifan and several other senior generals of the Guards, Emperor Chongzhen had already come to see him off with hundreds of officials.

Not only the emperor and his ministers, but also the streets of the capital were filled with common people who came to watch.

Zhang Shikang was at the prime of his life, dressed in fine clothes and riding a horse, looking heroic and dashing. Many people praised him highly.

What's more, many people were so excited that they shed tears. Most of them were people who had a better life because of Zhang Shikang's series of reforms.

Zhang Shikang dismounted from his horse, saluted Emperor Chongzhen, and then bowed to many ministers from the six ministries.

Zhang Shikang looked heroic and full of smiles. Emperor Chongzhen was also very satisfied. He smiled and said to Zhang Shikang as if he saw a promising younger generation:

"Wuji, I have only one request for you."

"Your Majesty, please tell me something. I will definitely remember it."

"When we arrive in Sichuan, we must not underestimate the enemy." Emperor Chongzhen said seriously.

Although Zhang Shikang had never suffered a serious loss since he took command of the army, and although Emperor Chongzhen did not fully understand war, he understood that an arrogant army will inevitably be defeated.

Zhang Shikang had previously made no secret of his contempt for the Sichuan bandits, and Emperor Chongzhen was always a little worried.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I am very afraid of death. If the situation goes wrong, I will run away." Zhang Shikang replied.

Emperor Chongzhen then smiled and nodded. The ministers of various ministries behind him, such as Hai Zhongqi, looked up at the sky, as if they had not heard anything.

These two emperors and ministers are truly amazing. Zhang Shikang, as the Duke of Zhenguo of the Ming Dynasty, the Marshal of the Army, and the head of the military, said in front of the emperor that he was afraid of death and would run away if he couldn't do anything.

And the emperor today actually nodded with a smile, how ridiculous!

"Also, when you are outside, you must bring more personal guards with you. Don't take risks and be careful of villains around you." Emperor Chongzhen reminded again.

He was in the palace, so it would be difficult for assassins to attack him even if they wanted to. However, the nearly two hundred assassination attempts Zhang Shikang had encountered in the past two years were no joke.

People make mistakes and horses stumble. An assassin may fail all the time, but he only needs to succeed once to become a weight he cannot bear.

"I obey your order. Even if I go to the toilet, you must bring a thousand guards to watch me pee." Zhang Shikang said helplessly.

This made the people around him burst into laughter, but Zhang Shikang didn't care.

"Also, you are not allowed to linger in places of entertainment. You are not someone who can destroy your reputation." Emperor Chongzhen said in a low voice.

After going to Nanjing and bringing back seven, he was going to Sichuan again this time. Emperor Chongzhen felt a little uncomfortable because he was still counting on the boy to become his son-in-law.

Zhang Shikang frowned as he listened.

"Your Majesty, do you even want to take care of this?"

"I am the Son of Heaven."

Zhang Shikang said nothing and could only accept the order.

"besides……"

"Your Majesty, you just said that you only have one request..."

"Okay." Emperor Chongzhen seemed a little embarrassed, but he still felt that he had a lot to say.

"The minister is gone."

After saying that, Zhang Shikang bowed to Brother Chongzhen again, waved to other court officials, and winked at Hai Zhongqi.

No matter what, when the army goes to war, the Ministry of Revenue is the backbone of the entire army.

After bidding farewell, Zhang Shikang spurred his horse and shouted to the 40,000 troops behind him:

"Leave!"

……