prosperous age

"Ru Mo, you won this time too, congratulations."

Wei Guangde thought of Shen Shixing's betting slips; he had lost all the others, but Li Tingji's slip had allowed him to win back his losses, so he congratulated him as well.

"I can't compare to the Grand Secretary; I only earned one hundred taels of silver."

Shen Shixing bet four hundred taels this time on four people he favored.

The result was, of course, a correct prediction: Li Tingji won the top prize, and those 100-tael betting tickets could now be redeemed for 500 taels of silver at the gambling den.

He made a profit from both the inflow and outflow, just not as much.

Shen Shixing's way of playing is truly a case of gambling for fun.

The difference between winning and losing a few hundred taels of silver is certainly insignificant in the eyes of these people.

However, increasing the stakes would be a loss that Shen Shixing could not afford.

Shen Shixing's family background was not actually very wealthy; in fact, one could say he was a student from a poor family.

The Shen family was originally just an ordinary merchant family in Suzhou Prefecture. Later, the family fell into decline and his father died. He then lived with his uncle.

Fortunately, Shen Shixing had a talent for studying, and his uncle was willing to support his studies.

However, China has always valued marriage between people of similar social standing. The Shen family were ordinary merchants, and the maternal uncle's family was naturally in a similar situation.

Moreover, since his uncle was able to support his studies and sponsor his participation in the imperial examinations, Shen Shixing naturally couldn't ask for more.

Therefore, Shen Shixing was not as fortunate as Wei Guangde, who received a large sum of money from his family as soon as he entered officialdom.

During his years as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, Shen Shixing lived a frugal life in the capital.

It was only after he entered the imperial court that he gradually became wealthy.

The Hanlin Academy was a government office with little financial resources, unlike other places where there was money to be made and benefits could be distributed from time to time.

The Hanlin Academy's assets were all provided by the Six Ministries; otherwise, why would its officials call themselves "pure stream" (a term referring to officials who uphold integrity and integrity)?

It's definitely clear enough.

"Uncle Zhong has probably lost this time."

Shen Shixing spoke again.

Wang Jiaping also bet on the top scholar in the imperial examination, unlike Wei Guangde, who not only bet on the top scholar but also on the top five scholars in the Five Classics examination.

“Uncle Zhong’s family is well-off and doesn’t lack this.”

Wei Guangde laughed.

The Wang family was actually a traditional local gentry family; they owned land and were also engaged in business.

However, by the time of Wang Jiaping, his luck had run out, his family fortunes had declined, and he had no choice but to give up business and return home to become a landlord.

In fact, landlords were the most orthodox social class for scholars, while merchants did not.

After all, it was well known that merchants had a low social status; they ranked last among the city's agricultural, industrial, and commercial enterprises.

This is also why many businessmen buy land after making money, actually wanting to become landlords and improve their social status.

In fact, in China, a country that has long been dominated by a small-scale agricultural economy, the space for businessmen to survive has always been limited.

The small-scale peasant economy was self-sufficient, and the merchants were highly mobile, making it easy for them to evade taxes and military service, thus weakening the central authority.

To avoid being targeted, merchants had no choice but to seek refuge with the powerful and become their vassals. In other words, most ancient merchants had a bureaucratic air about them and were often tools for the powerful and wealthy to make money.

Meanwhile, merchants also exchanged favors with the powerful and wealthy to gain control of the nation's economic lifeline and reap huge profits.

Salt merchants were a typical example of this kind of trade in ancient times.

The salt trade requires extremely high capital but is even more dependent on rights.

Behind every major salt merchant was one, or even countless, powerful backers who were difficult for others to match, thus protecting their interests.

During the Ming Dynasty, salt merchants were often this type of person.

If anyone could squeeze into such a circle, it would undoubtedly be a member of the royal family.

Members of the Ming imperial family, bearing the titles of prince or duke, could easily obtain access to the salt trade within their fiefdoms.

However, their influence diminishes if they leave their fiefdom.

Given his background as a salt merchant, Wei Guangde had repeatedly tried to reform the somewhat chaotic salt industry in China, but to no avail.

Wei Guangde could attract powerful and wealthy people to engage in business and make them give up on annexing land, or at least make them less eager for land, especially military settlements.

But they couldn't persuade them to give up the huge profits brought by salt permits.

Doing nothing, just obtaining some salt permits and a few salt collection slips can easily bring in thousands or tens of thousands of taels of silver. Who would give that up so easily?

In the courtyard, Wei Guangde and Shen Shixing chatted for a while, and Wang Jiaping also lifted her skirt and walked into the inner chamber. The three of them then gathered together and exchanged pleasantries.

"The two chief examiners are going back to their residences to rest today. When I came, I heard that they had just sent the list of examinees to the palace and then went back to their residences to rest."

I'll tell Uncle Zhong about tonight's arrangements later.

Finally, speaking of tonight's banquet, Wei Guangde naturally had to host the reception again.

Who told him to make money, and a lot of it at that?

"It's already arranged; we'll leave together around 5 PM."

Wang Jiaping said.

"I already told my family when I left home this morning that I would go there after I finish my shift."

Wei Guangde said, and then looked at Shen Shixing.

"I'll have someone send a message home in a bit, it won't delay."

Shen Shixing also smiled.

"Then I'll come to the room at the end of Shenshi (3-5 PM) to finish what I need to do today."

Wei Guangde concluded by saying that the three of them then separated and returned to their respective duty rooms to handle official business.

Meanwhile, in the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Wanli already knew the results of the imperial examination.

Originally, Emperor Wanli trusted the eunuchs around him quite a bit.

But after the Zhang Jing incident, he began to distrust the eunuchs around him.

A few days ago, I learned that some people in the public and the inner court were running gambling betting platforms, betting on who would be the top scholar in the imperial examinations, who would be the top scholar in the Five Classics, and even whether a candidate would be on the list of successful candidates. People were even betting on the ranking of those on the list. This piqued my interest.

I've been studying for several days and reading a lot of articles by scholars, but I still feel overwhelmed.

In the end, he chose a shortcut: copying homework.

He had people inquire about the gambling activities of three cabinet members and other important officials such as the six ministers. He even asked Liu Shouyou to find out their gambling results from previous years and finally copied down the betting stakes of several people.

He didn't place bets in the palace, even though the betting was run by eunuchs of high rank. It would be beneath him to participate.

He asked Zhang Jing to go out and place bets for him, and he bet on both Zhang Hong and Zhang Cheng without revealing the slightest detail.

Sometimes, the emperor really needs someone like Zhang Jing to help him with things that can't be done openly.

Today, the results came out: Emperor Wanli earned several thousand taels of silver.

The best chance of winning is still to follow Wei Guangde's lead and bet on the Five Classics and the Imperial Examination.

He should have earned tens of thousands of taels of silver if he hadn't blindly followed others in making purchases.

However, the others either lost or won only slightly, so overall they still lost.

By piecing it all together, he earned several thousand taels of silver.

Fortunately, Emperor Wanli did not intend to tamper with the national talent selection ceremony, such as by bribing someone to become the top scholar or the Five Classics Scholar.

He could manipulate the imperial examination, even directly determining the top three scholars, but he knew the gravity of such a joke and knew he couldn't play it that way.

"At the hour of Si (9-11 AM), send someone to the Grand Secretariat to invite Master Wei to the Qianqing Palace for an audience." Emperor Wanli handed out the gambling tickets in his hand and instructed the people around him. Then he added, "Summon Zhang Jing here immediately."

The emperor needed to convert the gambling tickets in his possession into cash, so he had to ask Zhang Jing to handle it; after all, one shouldn't trouble two masters with one matter.

By the time Zhang Jing entered the palace as ordered and took the gambling ticket from the emperor, it was already early morning.

At this time, Wei Guangde was handling official business in the cabinet when the eunuchs of Qianqing Palace set off to summon him to the cabinet.

"Okay, lead the way."

Upon hearing the emperor's summons, Wei Guangde put down the memorial in his hand and prepared to leave.

However, as I approached the door of the duty room, a thought struck me.

"Wait a moment."

Wei Guangde called out to the eunuch who was already standing outside the door. Then he went back into the room, took out a memorial from the bookshelf, put it in his sleeve, and then turned around and left the duty room with the eunuch.

In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Wanli naturally wouldn't discuss the imperial examination with Wei Guangde, much less mention gambling tickets.

After inquiring about the affairs of the court in recent days, Emperor Wanli asked about the money shops.

"Master Wei, you mentioned the Ming Dynasty Bank before. I wonder if the bank's articles of association have been drafted yet?"

Instead of sitting on the dragon throne, the Wanli Emperor walked up to Wei Guangde and asked him in a low voice.

Wei Guangde guessed that the Wanli Emperor had taken the initiative to contact him, probably because of this matter.

After all, several days had passed. According to custom, he would usually come to the Qianqing Palace to pay his respects after he had finished processing the memorials, or after he had processed most of the memorials.

It is still very rare for the emperor to take the initiative to send someone to summon him, as is the case today.

After all, nothing major has happened in the court.

Wei Guangde thought to himself that this was a close call, because he felt that today was different from the past, so he had brought the bank's articles of association before leaving the duty room, which was quite a coincidence.

Then, Wei Guangde reached into his sleeve, took out a memorial, and presented it to Emperor Wanli with both hands, saying, "Your Majesty, I have completed the drafting of the bank's regulations two days ago."

However, I'm still worried that there are still some areas that aren't quite right, so I've been revising and polishing it for the past few days.

His Majesty mentioned it today, and I happen to have it with me. I humbly request His Majesty's review and correction.

"What a coincidence, I only thought of this matter today."

Emperor Wanli reached out and took the memorial directly from the emperor, then returned to his throne and quickly flipped through it.

The regulations for money shops were actually quite extensive and lengthy, but Emperor Wanli still read them all.

Wei Guangde, of course, did not interrupt and waited there.

There were no eunuchs or palace attendants in the hall. The emperor sat there watching and forgot to ask someone to bring him a stool.

After all, if he made this thing well, it could earn him hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year.

Emperor Wanli was actually quite anxious.

He is now eager to see the regulations so he can decide whether to grant permission for this matter.

Of course, the most important thing is actually how much money the emperor plans to invest.

He has already prepared three million taels of silver for this project.

After carefully reviewing the articles of association drafted by Wei Guangde, it was discovered that the entire money shop operated from only two sources of profit: one was intermittent remittance, which is the withdrawal of funds from other locations.

Wei Guangde elaborated on this point, because the amount was uncertain.

Initially, the amount may be relatively small.

As merchants gradually transferred money through money shops, this subsequent revenue would continue to increase.

The final profit depends on the total amount of trade conducted by Ming Dynasty merchants.

The charter even mentions that in the future, the circulation of goods in the private sector can be judged based on the inter-regional remittances conducted by the money shops.

A sustained increase in exchange rates indicates active circulation of goods in the private sector; conversely, a decrease suggests that trade is hampered, and the reasons need to be clarified.

The other source of profit, lending, is actually quite simple.

The money shop's lending practices almost followed those of the Wei family. Merchants would provide fictitious collateral, and the money shop would lend up to 80% of that amount, thus ensuring the safety of the money shop's principal and a portion of the interest.

The first point was a bit confusing for Emperor Wanli, but the second point about lending money made it clear to him.

With the security of the loaned money guaranteed, Emperor Wanli naturally had the confidence to invest silver.

"Master Wei, I have already read the regulations."

Regarding the aforementioned fundraising, what are Mr. Wei's plans?

Emperor Wanli basically agreed with Wei Guangde's plan. The money shops would focus on remittance and lending, and the only issue now was the share capital.

"Your Majesty, I suggest we first solicit shares from members of the imperial family, meritorious officials, and court ministers. Based on the promised share amounts, we can then decide whether to raise shares from the general public."

Wei Guangde began to explain his ideas. He had previously planned to announce the fundraising plan directly to the outside world.

However, because of the matter of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, and because those people had already borrowed money from all over the place to collect silver, Wei Guangde realized that since he proposed this method, it was very likely to attract an excessive amount of capital.

How large is the lending market in the Ming Dynasty today?

If too much capital is raised and exceeds the market's capacity to absorb it, then the subsequent returns on that capital may be difficult to guarantee.

Therefore, Wei Guangde's initial plan was to set a minimum of 20 million shares.

Once the Daming Money Shop completes its fundraising and begins operations, Wei Guangde has even considered establishing a stock exchange in the capital to conduct stock trading.

The chambers of commerce in which he invested all had special share certificates, which could be converted into tradable stocks with just a slight adjustment.

As for adjustments, they will naturally be subdivided, for example, 100 shares will be considered as one lot, and transactions will be conducted in lots.

This is actually quite common in stock exchanges in later generations; fractional share trading is extremely rare.

Of course, Wei Guangde will not talk about the stock exchange for the time being.

We'll deal with that later; for now, we need to settle things with the money exchange.

"In addition, regarding the imperial court, I plan to allocate an official residence in each prefecture as a share of the investment."

For a money exchange to facilitate north-south remittances, the first step was to establish a presence in at least all prefectures before expanding into counties.

These shops and houses within the city were considered shares held by the imperial court.

In addition, tax revenue from various prefectures could be directly deposited into money shops, and the portion to be paid could be directly transferred to the capital's account through remittance, without having to first have it escorted by the prefecture to the province, and then by the province to the Ministry of Revenue in the capital.

According to the existing system, tax revenue was remitted to the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, and other government departments respectively.

Wei Guangde then suggested that local tax revenue be deposited in money shops, which would then transfer the funds to various government departments.

The entire flow of money was completed through money shops.

"Isn't it too risky to transport all the tax money through money shops?"

Emperor Wanli immediately realized the risk. The court paid millions of taels of tax every year, which, according to Wei Guangde, were all deposited in money shops and escorted to the capital by the money shops. Their safety along the way could not be guaranteed.

"Your Majesty, most of these tax silvers do not actually need to be transported north."

The capital city and Nanjing were hubs for merchants, so there was no shortage of silver exchanged.

And all this silver would eventually be remitted to their hometowns, namely the various prefectures and counties.

With so much silver stored in the capital's banks, it's more than enough for the imperial court to withdraw.

We collect exchange gains, ostensibly because we bear the risk and help transport money to various places. In reality, the bulk of the revenue comes from tax payments; it's just a matter of reconciliation.

The silver they deposited in money shops and remitted home was tax silver from various regions.

Of course, the difference still needs to be pledged as collateral, but the amount should be much smaller.

Wei Guangde explained. (End of Chapter)