Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

Sixteen people, each responsible for a region, although it cannot fully expand Qilu Bank to its limit, it will definitely be of great benefit to the development of Qilu Bank.

"Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Wuchang, Chengdu, Xi'an, Tianjin, and Shengjing—nine cities. Two people will be assigned to each of Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Each of the other cities will have one person assigned temporarily. The remaining four people will stay in Shandong to assist you in the management of the entire bank. Within three years, at least quadruple the capital held by Qilu Bank. This is my requirement for you!"

Liu Ye said in a deep voice.

Quadruple in three years!

With the current capital of 15 million taels of silver held by Qilu Bank, in three years, that will be 60 million taels!

Sixty million taels! Even if the annual fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty is only thirty or forty million taels of silver, then by then it would be truly rich enough to rival a country!

Li Jixian barely suppressed his shock and stammered, "Sir, is what you said possible? Sixty million taels of silver! Impossible?"

Liu Ye smiled and said, "Why, Mr. Li, is that a lot? We've already received 15 million taels of silver in Shandong alone. Think about those wealthy places like Shanghai and Suzhou, as well as Huguang, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Xi'an. Once we establish branches in these places, there will be absolutely no problem. 60 million taels of silver is still too little..."

Everyone was excited. Sixty million taels of silver, what a huge fortune!

However, Yung Wing's words chilled the hearts of the shopkeepers present: "Fellow shopkeepers, the more silver we control, the greater the pressure on us to repay the interest. 60 million taels of silver, calculated at an annual interest rate of 1%, would be 600,000 taels of silver in interest. This is what we have to pay our customers. 600,000 taels, plus our employees' salaries, our annual operating costs will not be less than 1.5 million taels. You have to think carefully about how to make back this money?"

amount……

The nine shopkeepers were almost choked to death by Yung Wing’s words!

One million and five hundred thousand taels!

This is a huge amount of money! How can I earn it back?

Only genius knows how to earn it back!

The nine shopkeepers looked at each other in bewilderment. There was no way they could earn 1.5 million taels of silver in a year! That was no small sum! This was a bank, not a money house. A money house would collect a considerable amount of money from depositors just by charging handling fees. Add to that the high-interest loans, and their money houses used to make 100,000 taels of silver a year, which was easy. But a bank was different. A bank had to pay interest to depositors. The difference between the income and the expenditure was double!

If the bank had 60 million taels of silver, the money it would have taken from the depositors would have been no less than 800,000 taels! Now, it's going to give away 600,000 taels! How can people survive?

Li Jixian forced a smile and said, "Mr. Rong is a great talent invited by the governor. I believe he has already made up his mind. In the end, earning two million taels of silver a year should not be a problem..."

Everyone chuckled. The man sitting in front of them was a great fortune. In just half a year, he had brought back millions of taels of silver in profit for Qilu Bank. This man had the ability to turn stones into gold!

Yung Wing nodded and replied, "All banks must pay interest to depositors. Currently, not only in Shandong, but in the entire country, there is only one bank, the Qilu Bank. There are also two banks opened by foreigners in Shanghai. However, they only lend money and do not accept deposits for the time being. Therefore, we have no competitors, and the interest we pay is also the lowest. If other banks were established, the interest we pay might be even higher, perhaps even up to 3% or even 5% a year!"

Three percent! Five percent!

Everyone's heads suddenly went dizzy. Not to mention 5%, even if it was 3%, the annual interest would be 1.8 million taels, which was more than Shandong Province's fiscal revenue for more than half a year!

Yung Wing went on to say, "However, banks are also the most profitable industry in the world. Why? Because they don't keep their deposits, but instead lend them out. The loan interest rate exceeds the deposit rate, which will definitely generate profits. Secondly, they invest their deposits, either in factories and mines or in national debt, to make a profit. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what I mean. Go out and find people who need loans. Only by lending our money and turning it into liquid money can we make a lot of money. If we keep it all in the treasury, we will be doomed."

Li Jixian asked, "Mr. Rong, how can such a small province like Shandong find so many people willing to take out such large loans? How can tens of millions of silver be loaned out?"

Rong Hong laughed and said, "Shandong alone may not be enough, but don't we have other provinces? What's more, we are guarding a big eater, don't you think, Your Excellency?"

Liu Ye laughed heartily and said, "Good fellow, Brother Chunfu, so you've been eyeing me for a long time. Well, I'm best at spending money. Starting this year, within three years, the Shandong Governor's Office will consume more than ten million taels of your silver. How about that?"

Tens of millions of taels of silver!

This Futai Lord really dares to do this...

The shopkeepers were all speechless. Borrowing was easy, but what about paying it back? What would the governor use to pay it back?

Liu Ye counted on his fingers and said, "The coal mine needs an additional investment of at least one million taels, and the ironworks also needs an additional investment of at least two million taels. In addition, the governor's office also plans to raise funds to build an arsenal, which also requires an investment of two to three million taels. The construction of the two ports also requires money, and one or two million taels of silver will also be thrown in. After the ports are built, we also need to set up a shipping bureau and organize sea transportation, which is estimated to cost over a million taels of silver. These are all major items, and we should have already invested seven or eight million taels of silver, right? In addition to these, we also need to prepare other things, such as schools, and farmland water conservancy. Investment is also needed. These all cost a lot of money. We can't support it with just one or two million taels of income from the governor's office. By then, these will all be huge holes. By then, I'm afraid you won't dare to lend me money..."

The shopkeepers standing by were stunned, their mouths hanging open in shock. What on earth was this Governor-General planning to do?! In just a few short years, he was going to do so much! How could the Governor-General's office possibly handle this? Even if the imperial court wanted to do all this, it would be incredibly difficult!