Opening a third bank was the plan given by the imperial court.

This is also the best solution after discussion between Zhang Haogu, Lu Xiangsheng and Qian Qianyi.

If merchants are ignored, the money held by hundreds of merchants will definitely cause trouble to the imperial court's economy and even the private banknote system may collapse; and if the money of these merchants is directly taken away by force,

It will even make businessmen alienate from the imperial court, which will have an impact on a series of future policies of the imperial court. The imperial court is not trying to kill pigs; as for using money to buy the silver in the hands of merchants, this is even more unrealistic. After all, the merchants hold

There was too much silver, and it was impossible for the court to print so many treasure banknotes at once. This would still have an impact on commodity prices.

Therefore, the best option is to let the businessmen take the initiative to take out the money and join forces with the court to open a commercial bank and let the businessmen be responsible for the operation, while the court only holds shares.

After all, the right to print and issue treasure banknotes is in the hands of the Ming Dynasty Bank. If it controls this, commercial banks will not be able to change the world.

The third bank of the Ming Dynasty, the Commercial Bank, was responsible for foreign trade, commercial development, etc. The conditions given by the court undoubtedly made the merchants very excited.

We are all big businessmen, and we value long-term interests and stability more than short-term huge profits. If the imperial court wanted to forcibly collect everyone's money, then everyone would have no choice but to do so. Instead, the imperial court came up with a plan to punish everyone.

The conditions are all favorable, which shows that the imperial court attaches great importance to everyone.

Moreover, the conditions given by the court did not require everyone to have all their money. As long as they contributed part of it, they would get shares, and the rest could be used to do business with foreigners.

After all, doing business with foreigners requires money. No matter how much the price of silver depreciates in the Ming Dynasty in the future, silver will still be valuable after all. After thinking about it, the merchants agreed with the court's decision. After all, this is the best way at the moment. They can't really go against the court.

Bar?

After the big businessmen were done, the various large and medium-sized chambers of commerce and companies were dealt with accordingly. As for the small merchants and small chambers of commerce, they didn't have much money in hand and mainly used treasure banknotes. When the news came out from the court, they would release the money.

In the end, Cui Chengxiu stayed and had a detailed discussion and signed a contract with the businessmen on the division of shares in the commercial bank, how many shares the money could be worth, etc., while Lu Xiangsheng and Qian Qianyi went to find Zhu Youxiao to resume their duties.

Zhu Youxiao was also in Xiyuan at this time, playing chess with Zhang Haogu in Yingtai. "Your Majesty."

"Two pavilion elders, please take a seat."

Zhu Youxiao smiled and invited Lu Xiangsheng and Qian Qianyi to take their seats. He held a chess piece in his hand and looked at Zhang Haogu opposite, who frowned and thought: "Master made a good move last time, why are you thinking about it again now?"

Zhang Haogu was helpless: "Your Majesty, if I had only taken one step to watch, I would have been surrounded by Your Majesty a long time ago. If I watch a few more steps, I can walk more safely."

Zhu Youxiao nodded: "Commercial banking is an idea that master has had for a long time, right?"

Zhang Haogu did not hide it and said very naturally: "Yes, this commercial banker has long thought about it. The territory of the Ming Dynasty is tens of thousands of miles, as much as Liaodong and reaching Jiaozhi in the south. As the center of the world and the place where wealth gathers from all over the world, how can it be

Can there be only one bank? In the future, the imperial court will ensure that the Ming Bank is firmly established, and the establishment of other banks is inevitable."

"When there are too many banks, all kinds of chaos will inevitably arise. Instead of letting businessmen from all over the country set up small banks by themselves, it is better to take this opportunity now to turn their bank into a large bank. It will also be convenient for the court to supervise

.”

Zhu Youxiao asked again: "Prime Minister Lu, how much money does the imperial court have now?"

Lu Xiangsheng thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the imperial court has no less than 600 million taels of silver." Zhu Youxiao's hand trembled: "So much?"

Qian Qianyi explained: "Your Majesty, in fact, the silver mined by the imperial court every year is only four to five hundred thousand taels, but our Ming Dynasty already has no less than two hundred million taels of silver. Although most of it is scattered among the people, in recent years, in the West,

Silver from Nanyang and Japan flows into our Ming Dynasty in large quantities, and the amount is increasing year by year."

"After the Longqing Dynasty opened and closed, millions of taels of silver flowed into our Ming Dynasty every year. After His Majesty completely relaxed the maritime ban and allowed all countries to trade, the number became 10 million taels, and it is increasing every year. Now it is no less than a year.

Twenty million taels of silver flowed into our Ming Dynasty.

"

"The imperial court holds only 600 million taels. This does not include the local vassals and private circulation. If all of these are added up, the Ming Dynasty will have no less than one billion taels, or even more."

Zhu Youxiao's expression has returned to normal: "With so much silver, if the price of silver falls, there will really be a big problem."

Lu Xiangsheng said: "I have sent documents from the Ministry of Accounts to various places, asking them to escort the money to Beijing. At the same time, big businessmen will use their own money to jointly open banks with the imperial court. Together, these are enough to account for 80% or even 90%.

The rest are nothing to worry about.”

Eighty-nine percent, that is, there will still be 100 million taels left by the people. After all, businessmen also have to do business. If this amount is allocated to the businessmen, the loss will not be particularly big. After all, when doing business with foreigners, how should the money be calculated?

of.

Zhu Youxiao was very satisfied: "Now that we have achieved this step, let the cabinet send a message that the imperial court will abandon the silver standard from now on."

Soon, at the court meeting, the minister of household affairs submitted a letter, and with the support of six ministers and ministers, the monetary system of the Ming Dynasty changed. The court abandoned the silver standard system and changed it to the gold standard, that is,

It is said that the price of silver is going to plummet.

This news spread throughout the inner city after the court, then the outer city, and then spread throughout the 24 provinces north and south of the Ming Dynasty through the Ming Dynasty newspaper. Everyone realized that the price of silver was going to plummet.

After Zhu Youjian got the news, he couldn't help laughing: "The price of silver has started to fall. This is a great time for us to buy!"

Zhang Jinrui also smiled and said: "Yes, yes, how much silver does the Ming Dynasty have? The whole world adds up to more than hundreds of millions of taels of silver. Now that the imperial court has given up the silver standard, it will abandon the silver standard. How can the big and small businessmen and gentry in the world tolerate it? The imperial court will give up the silver standard."

This is asking for death, and the price of silver will inevitably rise in the future!”

Zhu Youjian smiled proudly and asked his men to take advantage of this opportunity to buy silver futures. At the same time, he ordered a table of good wine and food for the store to deliver to his door. He wanted to have a good drink with his Mr. Zhang.

Soon, the store brought food and wine, and the table was full of delicacies and vintage wines. At the same time, his subordinates also brought the purchased futures. Looking at the stacks of coupons, Zhu Youjian smiled even more proudly.

"Hahahaha, hahahahaha!"

"My imperial brother often compares himself to Han Wu Guangwu, Tang Zong and Song Zu. He boasts that he is far superior and on par with Chengzu. But he still doesn't know how to govern the country."

"This gentry is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. If you offend the gentry all over the world, won't the Ming Dynasty be in turmoil?"

"Silver is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. He has gathered the world's wealth, and the Ming Dynasty's silver has increased. This is a good thing. Let him continue to increase it. If there is more money, the court will issue more treasures to stabilize the situation. He just wants to

If we want to abolish the silver standard, wouldn’t it be a waste of efforts in favor of the weak point?”

"The gentry has been offended, the merchants have been offended, and the people have been offended. As a king and father, he is going to be in trouble."

Zhu Youjian looked at the stacks of notes with pride. Originally, Ming Dynasty's silver futures were very stable. Taking one tael of silver as an example, it ranged from more than 900 to more than 1,000. There would be no

A lot of ups and downs.

But now when the court sends out news, one tael of silver instantly drops to five hundred treasure notes, and it’s still falling! It’s falling almost every moment!

Zhu Youjian's tens of millions of treasure notes were converted into silver, and he became a rich man in an instant. Where can he usually find such a good thing? Zhang Jinrui reminded: "Your Highness, it is best to exchange these coupons for cash as soon as possible."

, when the money rises in the future, it is inevitable that they will not admit it."

Zhu Youjian was drinking a small drink and was enjoying himself. After hearing Zhang Jinrui's words, he immediately realized: "Not bad, not bad." Zhu Youjian immediately ordered his servants to exchange all the tickets for silver.

Normally if someone does this, it would definitely be very difficult.

But who knew that now was a special time? When he heard that someone wanted to exchange money, he was very happy and packed the money in a box and sent it to Zhu Youjian.

Looking at the boxes of silver placed in the yard, Zhu Youjian felt dazzled. The silver was all silver!

How had he ever seen so much silver?

As a poor king and a wise king, he was used to being poor. This was the first time he saw so many moneymen.

A little trembling. Zhang Jinrui looked at Zhu Youjian's suddenly red face and quickly reminded: "Your Highness? Your Highness!"

"Huh? Ah?! Ah! It's Xiao Wang who has lost his temper." Only then did Zhu Youjian react, and at the same time he was secretly ashamed. After all, he was also a prince of the Ming Dynasty, a wise king, and a scholar.

Are you so rude with the money you received?

I have really lost my character and arrogance as a scholar. It’s so embarrassing!

Think about your imperial brother, His Majesty the Emperor Tianqi. He seemed to have seen hundreds of millions of gold and silver when he lost his composure. When the merchants of Shanxi and Tonliao rebelled against the country, they gave the firearms and secrets that the imperial court had repeatedly banned to the Jurchens of Liaodong. It can be said that

The greatest Han-nu-gan in the world caused the situation in the court to get out of control, but she also saved hundreds of millions of wealth.

Zhang Haogu took action at that time and sent people to ransack Shanxi merchants' homes. They confiscated as much as 120 million gold and silver, not counting other treasures, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc.

Compared with the mountains of gold, silver, and jewels and agates that my imperial brother saw, what are the boxes of silver that I have now?

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian felt inexplicably calm. He regained his composure, picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and said with a smile: "Thank you, Mr. Zhang, for reminding me."

Zhang Jinrui quickly said: "Your Highness, you don't have to be like this. It's rare for an ordinary person to see so many silver coins in a lifetime. It's really normal. Your Highness only lost his mind for a moment and recovered as before. It's very unusual for ordinary people."

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied after hearing Zhang Jinrui's praise, and took another sip: "Mr. Zhang, now that we have so much money, what should we do next?"

Zhang Jinrui said: "Of course I will continue to collect as much money as I can collect!"

"In the end, the more money we have in hand, the more confident we will be in the future and the greater our right to speak."

"We can even open a bank of our own. When the time comes, Your Highness will own the bank and have tens of millions of dollars to back it up. Not to mention the princess, your father-in-law will be in awe of you. By then, you will be the richest man in the capital.

It’s not your father-in-law, but you.”

Zhu Youjian's eyes widened after hearing this. Yes, if he opened his own bank, would he still worry about having no money? Tens of millions of taels of silver!

It was the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years. Even now, it is the harvest of the Ming Dynasty in one year. This much money is enough to open a bank and squander it for several lifetimes!

Taking a few deep breaths to stay calm, Zhu Youjian said: "Yes, the money is not enough right now, but we don't have any money now, right?"

Zhang Jinrui said without hesitation: "Go and borrow and find someone to invest. Your Highness, our family can't finish this business. In this case, why not find more people to help? If that person is blamed in the future, there will be someone to support him."

no?"

With that said, Zhang Jinrui pointed in the direction of Wuying Palace.

Zhu Youjian understood, and he stood up immediately: "Xiao Wang, go find help now!"

Now that Zhu Youjian had a huge fortune, he was more confident. He immediately went to find those who had lent him money and invested in him. Not only that, he also went to many officials and businessmen.

Gentlemen, Confucian scholars, officials, and businessmen were all gathered together by Zhu Youjian.

After inviting all the people they could, Zhu Youjian and Zhang Jinrui began to explain to them their thoughts and ideas, why they wanted to buy a lot of silver, how much the silver would be worth in the future, and how to jointly open a bank for investment in the future.
To be continued...