Great Ming National Teacher

From ancient times to the present, reforms have been an extremely difficult and dangerous task. From Shang Yang's reform in the pre-Qin period, to Wang Anshi's reform in the Song Dynasty, to Zhang Juzheng's reform in the Wanli year, there were not many successful people in all dynasties. There are very few people who die well, even if the emperor himself takes the lead, it is difficult to achieve success, because it is to fight against the old system and the entire class.

In the spring of the sixth year of Chongzhen, just as the clarion call for reform was sounded, it encountered unprecedented resistance, the biggest being the establishment of a bank.

Commercial trade in the Ming Dynasty was already very developed, and it was integrated with various factors such as family and politics. There is a deep relationship. If Li Yunya hadn't appeared, Shanxi merchants would become imperial merchants after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs in the future, even more powerful than the state-owned enterprises of later generations.

After the founding of Liaodong, Huang Taiji worked hard to learn how to make firearms from the Ming Dynasty, looms that can weave hundreds of pieces of cloth a day, lime soil that can build tall buildings and strong walls, that is, cement, and various other technologies. , Jin merchants contributed money and effort, secretly bought the staff of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and stole key technologies.

The three things that Li Yunya attaches the most importance to in developing industries: confidentiality, fire protection, and environmental protection. Over the past few years, he has caught many spies, and more than 80.00% of them are related to Shanxi merchants.

At the beginning, he defeated Gao Yingxiang, took advantage of the situation to rectify the whole territory of Shanxi, and took a series of measures to attack Shanxi merchants. He also ordered the gradual closure of the border and cut off the trade with Gao Yingxiang, Mongolia, and the Qing Dynasty.

Gao Yingxiang is in Ganshan, which has been plagued by disasters for many years, Mongolia is in the prairie where only cattle and sheep are produced, and Manqing is in the icy and snowy Northeast. They are all places where supplies are extremely scarce. Khanate transactions need to go through many deserts, and the difficulties can be imagined.

The Manchu Qing had another choice, which was North Korea. Huang Taiji found out through last year’s war that he could no longer defeat the Ming Dynasty, so he turned his target to North Korea. At first, he just burned, killed, and looted. Later, Fan Wencheng, Ning Wanwo, etc. Waiting for someone to give him an idea to let him occupy North Korea. The Qing Dynasty has limited manpower. To fight against the Ming Dynasty, it must absorb a large number of people and land resources, so Huang Taiji began to conspire to annex North Korea and set up the Eight Banners of the Dynasty.

The border trade was locked down step by step, and Shanxi merchants suffered heavy losses. They secretly supported Gao Yingxiang and sent food and money. This time when they heard that Li Yunya wanted the central bank in the city, they immediately regained their spirits and took out all the money from every house and family. To fight an economic war, it happened that people from Jiangnan came in contact at this time, so Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants, Zhejiang merchants and other groups were linked together, and a total of 3000 million taels of silver was collected, and all bank banks in the north and south provinces mobilized Get up, let's have a bloody fight without gunpowder!

At this time, bank notes were still in the primitive stage, only taking deposits and lending, and they all charged interest. According to later generations, deposits also required interest, which is the so-called negative interest rate.

The bosses of giant businessmen are also planning to manipulate interest rates according to this thinking, but after the central bank is listed for business, it is announced that the bank will pay customers interest on deposits, and everyone is a little dumbfounded.

There is such a thing in the world?You keep the silver for me, and then you pay me back the interest?After researching, all the merchants felt that Yaodao Guoshi was a bit stupid, so they took out 100 million taels and deposited it in the central bank to test the waters, and planned to see if they could get back 4000 taels of silver after a month. Hit and crash.

The newly established Bank of China’s way of issuing passbooks is different from the commercial bills that are commonly used today. The commercial bills of each bank are recognized but not recognized, and anyone can withdraw them. However, when the central bank accepts deposits, the depositor needs to be issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Account book and my ID card to open an account at the bank. When withdrawing money, I must bring the passbook to take the money.

One month later, the merchants got more than 100 taels of silver as they wished. Everyone was shocked. In just one month, they got more than 4000 taels of snowflakes. If things go on like this, the newly opened Central Bank Don't you have to go bankrupt?

After discussion, the merchants came to save money for the second time. This time, they directly deposited 2000 million taels for a period of three months, and planned to withdraw 8 taels of interest when the time came.

Li Yunya was overjoyed when he found out, and immediately asked the company under Feng Yuan's name to borrow money to expand the production scale. However, only [-] new textile series were built, including cashmere, rabbit cashmere, cotton clothes, fine linen, and real silk, etc., to make felt. , making wool, making coats, making underwear, making socks... In the factory that uses electric textile machines, the production efficiency is extremely fast. Blanket pantyhose is as efficient as the original hundreds of small workshops, with three shifts, day and night to produce mountains of finished products, and then dump them all over the country at ridiculously cheap prices.

Three months later, the merchants got back the principal of 2000 million taels and more than 8 taels of interest as they wished.Just when they were still unclear about the situation, the Central Bank announced that it would set up branches in Taiyuan, Shanxi, Jinan, Shandong, Zhengzhou, Henan, Wuhan, Hubei, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and Fuzhou, Fujian, and began to issue new currency.

Zhu Youjian issued an edict, and from now on, officials' salaries, soldiers' salaries, and craftsmen's salaries will all be paid in new currency.

Regarding the new currency, whether it is the ministers of the DPRK and China or ordinary people, they all look at it with pickiness and resistance. Many businessmen are divided into two parts, and one part continues to operate banks. Taiyuan goes to withdraw a large amount of money. If the central bank does not circulate in time, it will not be able to get the money out.There is also a large amount of scattered silver for zero deposit and lump sum withdrawal, which not only earns interest but also earns silver consumption.Or absconding with the money after taking out a large amount of loans, and reneging on debts... Various methods emerge in endlessly.

The other part is to start with currency. Each of them has experience in melting currency. Whether it is copper coins or silver ingots, they are all experts. Spread rumors, create panic, and do everything possible to crack down on the new currency circulating in the market.

For the first method, Li Yunya and the people at the central bank have thought of it in advance, and stipulate that large withdrawals must be notified in advance, one day in advance for more than 10 taels, five days in advance for millions of taels, and one month in advance for tens of millions of taels.If you want a loan, you must provide the details of the three generations of your ancestors, you need a development certificate from the local Ministry of Public Security, and you have to have something as collateral.

When the new coins were issued, those who were going to smelt and counterfeit them were also dumbfounded. This thing is made of iron. It is worth a tael of silver if it is not smelted. It has to be polished bit by bit by craftsmen, and it costs more than ten times the cost of making a coin, and it cannot be electroplated, and ordinary people can easily see through it with a layer of silver powder.

The people's acceptance of the new currency is very high. After all, it is not a pen and paper, and it is gold-plated, silver-plated and copper-plated. It was made by the master of the state in the gossip furnace with the method of turning stones into gold, collecting the aura of heaven and earth, absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon, and spending ninety-nine and 81 days of sacrifice. When casting, the god of thunder sent charcoal, the god of wind blasted the wind, and the dragon king sent water , The world changed color for it... After the common people get the money, they take it home and make a board offering, offering incense every day, and offering meat and rice during the festivals. When they need money, they ask for a corresponding share. Please come out respectfully. Everyone firmly believes that this money can bring good luck and drive away evil spirits. Many Taoist priests began to use this money to make magic tools.

The central bank announced that the new currency is completely equal to silver. No matter who takes the money to any bank, it can be exchanged for the corresponding amount of silver immediately. Moreover, all industries under Fengyuan recognize the new currency, and the country also recognizes it when it collects taxes. Singapore currency.

In order to prevent the enemy's run on the tide, Li Yunya did not put all the new coins into the market at once, but gradually distributed them along with the salaries of officials, soldiers' salaries, and wages of workers in various factories.

At the beginning, everyone went to the bank to exchange the new currency immediately after getting it. After all, it was more at ease to hold the real silver in their hands. Except for the merchants under Fengyuan, other stores did not accept the new currency, but gradually On the ground, the advantages of new coins are reflected. It is too inconvenient to circulate silver coins. It is extremely uniform, one circle is one circle, one corner is one corner, and the big merchants in Fengyuan accept it, buy clothes and shoes, go to restaurants, buy books and paper, buy stoves and porcelain... and pay taxes to the country, etc., all of which are common , and soon began to circulate.

During this period, merchants launched several times of runs, all of which were resolved by the central bank with various policies. All other provinces have branches, and every state capital has sub-branches, which can be said to be everywhere. The central bank reserves a total of 6000 million taels of silver and issued a total of 20 billion new currency.

Because the new currency is linked to silver, a Chongzhen Tongbao is worth one tael of silver. People call it silver yuan, or silver dollar.

Not only the Ming Dynasty, but even the Dagan Kingdom in Shaanxi, Mongolia outside the Great Wall, and the Qing Dynasty in Northeast China all began to use Chongzhen silver coins.

Li Yunya has a feeling of standing on the top of the Forbidden City, overlooking the mountains and rivers and the land: he has obtained the right to mint coins in the three places, and by using legal smuggling methods, he can easily sell the cattle, sheep, fur, ginseng and other materials they have worked so hard to raise. When it comes to Daming, in two years, as long as I sneeze a little, I can make these places tremble three times.

It’s just that these three places are too poor. Except that the Manchu Qing Dynasty can be better after swallowing North Korea, the other two places can’t be plucked. He discussed with Zhu Youjian and called the Portuguese and the Dutch to Beijing. Let's talk about bilateral trade. These two countries are now very fat. Just a handful of them can feed the people of Ming Dynasty for several years. It's just that they started out as a trader, so it's not easy to squeeze their cash.

Zhu Youjian completely watched this economic war from the beginning to the end, and was very interested in the terms such as minting power, pricing power, inflation, deflation, and interest rate equal to the value of currency that Li Yunya said.

In private, Zhu Youjian begged Li Yunya: "I want to be a director of the central bank."

Li Yunya felt a headache: "Your Majesty, we had a good division of labor at the beginning. You were in charge of military administration and supervision, and I was in charge of civil affairs. We could only help each other before, but we could not directly intervene in each other's affairs."

Zhu Youjian nodded: "I know, but Mr. Sun is in the military administration, and the Ministry of Supervision has Shikefa. They are doing a good job. I don't need to worry about it at all. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is fine. I will see you when the Western Minister comes to Beijing." One side is fine. But I like the bank job so much!" When he mentioned the central bank, his eyes began to sparkle, probably because he was afraid of poverty in the past. , Invisible and invisible, changing the sky and changing the earth, it is really a miraculous skill!"