Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 913 Loans
Hearing that the imperial court was determined to cut off Qin's war expenses and use internal funds, the princes instantly felt uncomfortable.

Especially King Qi, as the second child, has been sensible for many years and obviously has a thorough understanding of politics.

Using the court's money and using the emperor's money are two different things.

For the sake of the vassal state and his son, the emperor allowed the continuous expropriation of money and food, while the internal funds were the emperor's private money, so naturally it was not as happy as before.

King Qi sighed: "This group of civil servants have really sharp noses. Even if they go to Shangshu, it won't take these two years. Let's talk about it after my feudal kingdom is established!"

"Father has always been frugal, but this is a disaster."

As his own son, of course he understands the emperor's greed for money, otherwise how could he risk dissatisfaction and let the Ministry of Internal Affairs do business?
You must know that in the past dynasties, the emperors at most built some Huangzhuang, and it was the first time to do business openly.

No way, Chongzhen was so poor that the emperor and courtiers were scared of poverty.

When summing up the experience of previous dynasties, lack of money is the key reason.

Sure enough, as expected, within two days, the emperor summoned the king of Qi and told the story.

The emperor said bluntly: "Although the internal funds have received a lot of income in recent years, you also have many brothers and sisters. Not to mention, the prince got married in the twelfth lunar month, and the internal funds were used. 50 yuan, and the household department also released 50 yuan."

"The state of Qin has a million dollars so far, and your state of Qi also has 10 yuan. If this continues, your brothers will become vassals. The expenses are not small, so you have to be careful with your money..."

King Qi bowed to listen, clasped his hands, feeling quite uncomfortable.

Good guy, the state of Qin is about to come to fruition, saving money is naturally easy, but my state of Qi has just started, how can I save money?
"Father, the ministers have received news from the Qi State that Linzi City now has tens of thousands of people, which is no less than the imperial court."

King Qi said sincerely: "If this goes on, it won't take two or three years before it can be self-sufficient without using internal funds."

"Recruiting immigrants, building cities and conquests, which one doesn't cost money?" Of course Zhu Yixi understood his son's entanglement and reluctance, he said casually:
"Let me tell you bluntly, at most another 40 will be spent, and the internal money will not be enough."

40 million--

When Qi Guo heard this, he was inexplicably surprised.

Immediately, there was another burst of sadness.

The eldest son, Qin State, is sending troops and money, and will fight Hue and Thang Long next, and another million yuan is certain.

And he, the second child, has nothing, and the total is only 50 yuan.

This eccentricity is too serious!
Swallowing sourly, King Qi was silent for a while.

Zhu Yixi glanced at him and got a rough idea of ​​what he was thinking.

But there is no way, the bonus period is there, and it will really disappear after it passes.

After thinking for a moment, the emperor sighed: "Forget it, this is not good for you."

"In this way, I allow you to recruit 10 people in the country, as long as you can get people to promise, don't force it."

"Besides, I'm also serving as your personal guard for a thousand palaces, so it's a helping hand!"

When King Qi heard this, his face looked better.

You know, the king of Qin failed to recruit people and had no guards, which was a compensation for him.

But this is far from enough.

King Qi wanted to open his mouth, but was stopped by the emperor: "Everything is fair. Compared with your younger brothers, you and King Qin are better."

When King Qi thought about it, it was indeed true.

The treatment of my younger brothers may plummet in the future.

Speaking of this, the emperor said casually: "If it is difficult to recruit people in the country, you can go to Qin State to try."

"Annan's population is dense, and there are more poor people. As long as you are willing to spend money, you will not worry about not being able to recruit people."

As a place rich in human resources, Annan also has the custom of passing on the family line, and being relatively poor is the most suitable place for immigrants.

King Qi was overjoyed when he heard the words.

The island where the Qi State is located is vast, and there are towering trees everywhere. The most lacking thing is the population.

Needless to say, in the country, unless you really can't get along, you will leave your hometown, so the number of domestic immigrants is not optimistic.

Once the Qi State has the support of a populous country like Annan, it will not be too convenient.

As for whether his eldest brother King Qin agreed, that's not to mention, let alone brotherhood, if the emperor opened his mouth, who would dare to disobey?
The King of Qi responded with a full mouth, but before leaving, he hesitated for a while, and then said: "Thank you, Father--"

Seeing that he was about to leave, Zhu Yixi sighed in his heart and said, "Forget it, let me give you some advice!"

"It can also be regarded as an example for your younger brother."

"My son, thank you, Father, for your guidance."

Zhu Yixi said in a deep voice: "I will send someone to contact those big businessmen and talk about their loan."

"You can borrow foreign debts in the name of the state of Qi, and you can pay them back one by one after the prosperity of the population of the state of Qi."

"This—" Qi Wang hesitated: "Father, it's probably inappropriate to borrow money from these businessmen."

"What's awkward?" the emperor said dissatisfied: "You know, if you can borrow money, your Qi country can be formed as soon as possible, so that your income and expenditure can be balanced..."

Hearing this, King Qi didn't dare to speak, so he could only respond.

Issuing bonds is tantamount to guaranteeing the future income of Qi State, so as to raise funds for development, which is a good thing for Qi State.

After all, the development of a country must require population, and population migration cannot be supported without money.

A few days later, merchants from local business groups such as Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants, salt merchants, and Shaanxi merchants were invited by King Qi to attend the party.

After talking about the situation of Qi State, King Qi said bluntly: "As long as there is more money, Qi State will definitely be able to develop vigorously. Spices, timber, grain, etc. will be the main export commodities..."

"So, this time, the total loan is 30 yuan, one chapter per thousand yuan, limited to five years, and the annual interest is five percent (5.00%)."

30, plus the interest of [-]% per year, the interest is [-].

Among the people, this can be described as extremely low interest, or it can't be borrowed at all.

Merchants expressed their understanding of this and enthusiastically made purchases.

30 yuan and [-] bonds were sold out in less than a quarter of an hour.

For these merchants, it is very worthwhile to use a few thousand taels to buy the favor of the emperor and King Qi.

However, it was rare for King Qi to take advantage of such an opportunity, and issued a substantive invitation to the merchants who bought bonds:
Go to Qi State as a guest.

Moreover, King Qi also gave him a privilege: allowing the creditors to send a son as a guard for the palace.

Obviously, this bond not only has interest, but also an excellent opportunity to get close to King Qi.

Merchants are excited about it.

Although Lu Buwei's rare goods have been around for more than 2000 years, who doesn't want to invest in politics?

In the past, the biggest investment of businessmen was those poor scholars. As for juren, it is enough to apologize to others.

Today, investing in a country is much better than investing in talents.

Seeing that the merchants were tempted, the king of Qi simply painted a big cake and tricked the merchants to go to Qi to buy land, which was cheap and unlimited.

If you buy more, you will get an official position.

This kind of situation has set off a great heated discussion in the capital, and the public opinion has been greatly moved.

The impeachment of the government and the opposition is raging.

But in the end, they were all suppressed by the emperor.

As long as the king of Qi didn't sell Qi, all this would be worth it.

At this time, Yu Chenglong finally learned of his appointment and dismissal from the Ministry of Officials:
Suiyuan, the prefect of Jiuyuan Prefecture.

In other words, he still took advantage.

Because before, in order to take care of the poor frontier provinces, the emperor specially promoted its officials by half a level.

In other words, even though he was a fourth-rank magistrate, he enjoyed the treatment of a third-rank congregation.

Even if it is flat relocation, it is based on the standard of the third rank, not the fourth rank.

This is also to maintain the shortage of capable officials in the frontier.

Jiuyuan Fuju is very close to Shanxi. Before taking office, Yu Chenglong asked the court for leave and was going to go home to have a look.

After all, it has been nearly ten years since he left his hometown.

Shanxi, Yongning Prefecture, Taiyuan.

The closer he was to the village, the more nervous he was.

When he arrived in the mansion, he felt surprised in a trance.

Yu Chenglong couldn't believe that this Zhumen stone pillar in front of him, the house where the slave guarded the gate, turned out to be his own house.

The money he sent back these years would at most make his family a little rich, and it was absolutely impossible.

"Are you the master?"

The former servant recognized him.

In a blink of an eye, the family was reunited.

Ask why the house is here?

The old wife sighed: "When you are a colleague, there are people in the county who come and go, saying that they are your colleagues..."

"Later, the family was already rich. The gifts from your colleagues these years were enough to meet the expenses. You sent the money to rebuild the ancestral house."

Yu Chenglong sighed, looking at the names on the gift list, most of them were colleagues who were released from the provincial examination.

At a glance, most of the people are still lingering on the post of county magistrate, tossing back and forth without turning over.

The most outstanding one is actually just a staff member of the sixth department of the government.

And the doctor of the Ministry of Industry he served at that time turned out to be the most outstanding person, how could he not be contacted?

The next day, he wandered and walked in the countryside, looking at his former hometown, feeling grateful in his heart.

Speaking the local dialect, no one doubted his identity.

I saw that the clothes of the people in the countryside were almost the same, they were all worn-out cotton-padded jackets, and their dark faces seemed to be unable to be washed clean.

Suddenly, the crowd began to gather, arousing Yu Jackie's interest.

Walking in a hurry, squeezed into the crowd, and finally learned the whole story.

It turned out that a businessman in the town made a loan, and the annual interest rate exceeded [-]%, reaching [-]%.

A certain person was in a hurry to use the money, so he bit the bullet and borrowed it, but he regretted it after a few months, and immediately sued, saying that he violated the Ming Law.

Then, the villagers began to gather and publicly conduct the review.

Next to the ancestral hall, three tables stand side by side.

Sitting in the middle is the village head, in his forties, full of energy, he is in charge of taxes and corvees in the village; on the left is the village elder, in his sixties, a well-known justice in the town.

The one sitting on the right is the village policeman with a knife, with a strong back, majestic, and a scar on his face, which makes him even more majestic. He is in charge of the security of the entire township.

Seeing that there were more and more people gathering, the mayor coughed and said, "This is Wang Laosan suing Yang Chaogui from his hometown. Since we are both from the same township, we don't have to go to the county government to nag the county lord. This is just a few of us." next trial."

The old village elder presided over the situation, and asked, "Wang San, what are you suing Yang Chaogui?"

"The little one sued Yang Chaogui for lending money with the money, and the interest rate was as high as [-]%. My house was completely empty. In order to save my mother, I had to ask him for a loan. Later, I learned that he broke the law..."

Wang San described it in detail.

Yang Chaogui said angrily: "You boy, when your mother was so ill that she was about to die, she begged me to borrow money to treat her illness, but now she wants to go back on her word and sue me, what a coward."

The onlookers nodded one after another.

But Wang Er didn't take it seriously, and raised his head and said: "The court rules, the annual interest rate should not exceed [-]%, if you break the law, you will naturally be sued—"

The village elder sighed: "That's right, Yang Chaogui, haven't you read the newspaper, kid? Rent and interest reduction, offenders will be punished."

Yang Chaogui lowered his head helplessly.

Wang Er raised his head proudly.

"According to the rules, Yang Chaogui violated the law. Wang Er doesn't need to pay back the money owed to him. Moreover, Yang Chaogui has to suffer [-] boards, as a warning to others."

Soon, two big men pressed it down and placed it on a wooden chair. The sticks kept falling, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

Afterwards, the elders continued to hear the case in public.

There are all kinds of trivial things, stealing, fighting, and so on.

When Yu Jackie saw it, he was filled with emotion.

Others echoed: "Every first and fifteenth day of the lunar new year, the villagers have to come out to uphold justice, and they are very busy—"

The reduction of rent and interest is the national policy of the imperial court and the main policy implemented by the emperor. It has been introduced and popularized in newspapers for many years, causing a lot of controversy among the people.

But no one dared to violate it.

Yu Chenglong stroked his beard, feeling relieved.

These few villagers are qualified.

After the incident, everyone was about to disperse, but suddenly the village head stopped everyone:

"The imperial court plans to build a national road from Taiyuan to Suiyuan. If you want to go, please speak as much as you can. I will report to the Yamen..."

"Food is included, forty coppers a day, and it will take about a year and a half to repair. Those with a strong family can sign up..."

At this time Suiyuan, Jiuyuan Mansion.

As a city south of Yinshan Mountain, Jiuyuan Mansion is not only the political center of Suiyuan, but also the economic center.

After a large number of herders registered households, they were keen to come to Jiuyuan to work, purchase commodities, and sell cattle and sheep.

According to statistics, Suiyuan has been in peace for more than ten years, and the pastures have been completely divided, which has greatly reduced civil disputes.

At the same time, the implementation of silage storage led to a large increase in feed for cattle and sheep, and the herdsmen settled down, but it caused the population to continue to breed and gather in the city.

The Suiyuan Provincial Government roughly estimates that the population of Suiyuan has expanded from 30 at the beginning of the founding of the country to about [-] today, and the population has almost doubled.

In this case, just in case, Governor Suiyuan decided to learn from Chahar after reporting to the court, hold the Naadam Conference, and select talents to join the army or enter Beijing.

As a result, from Chahar, Suiyuan, and the huge Monan region, the Naadam Conference will be held, the imperial examination will be masked, and the elite will be attracted to maintain social stability.

After staying at home for a few days, there was no time to worry too much, so I hurried to Jiuyuan Mansion.

On the way, Yu Chenglong hurried and hurried, and finally arrived at Jiuyuan.

As the capital, Jiuyuan has a huge scale, gathering tens of thousands of people, and there are countless Mongolians who come and go.

(End of this chapter)