prosperous age

This time, Wei Guangde stayed in the Qianqing Palace for a rather long time.

Not only did he need to explain some of the contents of the regulations, but Emperor Wanli also asked many questions that he did not understand.

Finally, after the operation of the money exchange was sorted out, Emperor Wanli asked, "Master Wei, your idea is indeed brilliant."

However, I still have some concerns.

The first step is for the money exchange to open branches in every prefecture and city in the country. How many managers would that require?
Secondly, with so many shopkeepers, can they all follow your rules?

What if—and I mean just what if—someone blinded by greed covets this silver?

Upon hearing the emperor's question, Wei Guangde immediately bowed and replied, "In response, there are 146 prefectural cities and 251 state cities including directly governed states throughout the country, requiring a total of 397 branches to be opened."

As for the talent Your Majesty is concerned about, I have a group of people under my command who are already familiar with my approach.

The rest can be selected from outside.

Your Majesty, please don't forget that we have established the Great Ming Bank, and we know who our shareholders are.

Unless he can escape overseas or to the northern deserts, areas beyond the reach of the imperial court's influence, can he evade their pursuit?

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, seeing that Emperor Wanli's face was still full of worry, he continued, "As for those newly selected ones, I think we can open branches in various places first."

As for the shopkeeper, if they are not familiar with the business, the branch can temporarily refrain from lending to external parties.

Their main task is to go to other locations to learn the procedures, and then return to their respective locations after becoming familiar with them.

During this period, these branches mainly focused on foreign exchange business.

Your Majesty, in some smaller places, the number and strength of merchants are limited, and they may not actually have a strong need for loans.

Therefore, I believe that lending activities are more likely to occur in economically developed states.

These are the areas we need to focus on first.

"Take it one step at a time. First, ensure the exchange of bills between prefectures, and then proceed with lending to prosperous prefectures."

Emperor Wanli understood that Wei Guangde was not aiming for widespread success from the outset, but rather focusing on developing key regions.

In regions with active trade and economic activity, skilled personnel will definitely be dispatched to manage the operations.

These areas are often the most active areas, with a huge demand for money.

"Master Wei, I have made my decision. I will invest three million taels of silver from the imperial treasury into the Great Ming Bank."

As for the imperial court's share, you should negotiate with the Ministry of Revenue to quickly inventory the shops held by local governments, set prices, and treat them as the imperial court's share.

Previously, only the prefectural level was mentioned. I'm wondering if, at the county level, the shops should also be considered as shares, or if they can be acquired through a buyout later?

The Wanli Emperor continued to ask.

According to the charter, all of the more than 1,000 counties in the Ming Dynasty were to eventually establish the Ming Money Shop, thereby completely monopolizing the gold and silver exchange business within the territory.

Well, as long as the imperial economy was thriving, Emperor Wanli believed that the foreign exchange business should be very profitable.

After all, carrying a draft is much more convenient than carrying cash.

For insurance purposes, businessmen should be willing to do so.

Emperor Wanli had also heard of the existence of escort agencies and similar business associations in the region, which were dedicated to ensuring the safety of merchants during transportation.

With a draft, this fee can be saved, or rather, the money flows into the money exchange.

As for the fate of these people from the escort agency, Emperor Wanli was not worried.

They lost the business of escorting money, but they still needed to escort goods, so they could still make a living.

When Wei Guangde left the Qianqing Palace, it was already early noon. He had talked with the emperor for more than an hour in the palace.

Okay, I should say half an hour.

On his way back, Wei Guangde had also made up his mind.

Next, immediately summon Zhang Xueyan to the cabinet and have him send people to take stock of all the government-owned shops in each prefecture and find suitable locations to operate as money shops. Then, have the local governments fund the repairs and obtain an appraisal.

As for county towns, there were 1171 county towns in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty. Even if a shop was only worth a few dozen taels, it would still amount to tens of thousands.

They are not very valuable, but there are too many of them.

Wei Guangde was actually a little hesitant, after all, these things ultimately amounted to money.

Don't worry about the government not having shops or houses, just like farmland.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was absolutely no shortage of official land, official residences, and official shops.

The origins of these properties and lands in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty were mostly assets confiscated from their owners after they committed crimes.

Some will be sold for cash, but many will still be kept and rented out.

However, the vast majority of official land and fields were confiscated at the beginning of the dynasty.

These fields were then rented out to farmers or even landlords for cultivation, meaning that the government was nominally the owner of these fields.

However, as explained earlier, starting from the Song Dynasty, the concepts of ownership and use rights for farmland in China were already distinguished.

Landlords obtained government-owned land through connections and then subleased it to tenants; this was a transfer of usage rights.

The rent for government-owned land was extremely low, and taxes had to be paid in addition to it. This was the main source of land rent in the Ming Dynasty.

And his hundred-odd men were also to begin gathering in the two capitals, North and South.

These people will first be assigned to the most prosperous prefecture, and they will also be required to bring several apprentices with them.

These people may be newly recruited or they may be their relatives.

Wei Guangde understood the rules of the ancient master-apprentice system, and he couldn't recruit people entirely from outside; he still had to prioritize selecting some from their relatives.

This is the origin of the ancient saying that "when one person attains enlightenment, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven."

It's unrealistic to expect them to mentor apprentices and impart all their knowledge; many people would think that teaching an apprentice will lead to the master starving.

Only relatives would make them feel comfortable sharing their technical skills and experience.

Moreover, the Great Ming Bank ultimately requires a lot of manpower, but as it stands, once it is established, it will need at least 1,500 branch managers.

In addition, he needs an oversight body to internally audit and verify accounts.

These people who audit the accounts must be the old manager.

Only in this way can they discover the trickery, because no one understands these tricks better than them.

The charter remained in the hands of the Wanli Emperor, but Wei Guangde still had the original draft, albeit one that had been repeatedly revised.

Back in his duty room, Wei Guangde immediately wrote a note to Zhang Ji, instructing him to begin gathering manpower in both the northern and southern capitals. He would bring back a draft of the regulations that evening and have the people in the mansion make several copies for them to review.

This is the preparation to enter the implementation phase, and these people need to know what they are preparing to do.

After the note was written, Lu Bu arranged for someone to summon Zhang Xueyan.

It was already noon when Zhang Xueyan arrived.

"These were sent from the manor; let's eat some together."

Wei Guangde smiled and invited Zhang Xueyan to sit down, and Lu Bu prepared bowls and chopsticks.

He had forgotten the time and didn't realize it was already lunchtime.

Zhang Xueyan didn't stand on ceremony and sat down directly opposite Wei Guangde to start eating.

Having eaten until he was about 70-80% full, Wei Guangde slowed down his eating and began to tell Zhang Xueyan why he had been called there.

"His Majesty has approved the bank's charter; the next step is preliminary preparation."

Wei Guangde got straight to the point, saying, "Next, we need to take stock of all the shops and houses in every prefecture and county across the country, and try to select properties in good locations."

In addition, those shops and houses, if they have been rented out, should be cleared out.

As for the abandoned buildings, the local authorities will repair them first, then value them as an investment by the imperial court.” Zhang Xueyan listened quietly, finally putting down his chopsticks and asking, “Your Excellency, you know that the Ministry of Revenue still has some surplus funds. Although the accounts are currently tight, it is by no means short of money.”

"You want to invest some cash in addition to the house and the shop?"

Wei Guangde understood and immediately pressed for more information.

"I have this idea."

Zhang Xueyan said, "If this method is implemented, there will be a steady stream of interest inflows in the future."

"The Ministry of Revenue can still squeeze out some funds for shareholding if they try."

"If you squeeze it out, you're basically just holding back other expenses that should be paid."

Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Xueyan and said irritably, "How about this, when the real estate stock price comes out, the Ministry of Revenue can scrape together some change to make it a round number."

"Besides the Ministry of Revenue, what about the other ministries?"

Zhang Xueyan asked in a low voice, "Especially the Imperial Stud, they have quite a lot of savings there."

"The imperial court has already taken all the shares, so how can anyone else invest?"

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, "His Majesty has already spent three million taels of silver from the imperial treasury."

The Ministry of Revenue will provide shops and houses, along with some cash; I estimate that 500,000 taels would be the maximum.

After saying that, he looked at Zhang Xueyan and smiled, "Don't stare at me, I know what you're thinking."

However, the imperial court really can't have too many officials.

My initial plan was to raise ten to twenty million taels of silver as a trial.

Let me be frank, I will invest one million taels first, but it can't exceed His Majesty's investment.

After that, His Majesty became the largest shareholder of the money shop.

Wei Guangde naturally wouldn't mention that he would also indirectly invest through some chambers of commerce, and he was even planning to open a stock exchange in the capital later, with Daming Qianzhuang as the first listed company.

Sharing happiness is worse than keeping it to yourself. Let more people benefit and know that investing their spare money in the Chamber of Commerce can generate a continuous stream of wealth, which is better than saving money to buy land.

Of course, as original shareholders of Daming Qianzhuang, they would also gain huge profits through this method.

Businesses in which the emperor has a stake must absolutely not lose money for the emperor.

Even if the profits of the Ming Dynasty Bank don't reach what he was told today, as long as the stock exchange opens, the emperor's three million shares can be easily turned into five or six million taels with a little speculation.

At the very least, he had already passed the emperor's test.

Anyway, Wei Guangde felt confident that he had the upper hand and would not lose.

To be honest, getting the emperor to invest was quite a lot of pressure for Wei Guangde.

The most important thing is still that the emperor's business must not lose money; he must make money.

Otherwise, the Emperor's favor is uncertain.

Reaching the position of Grand Secretary actually depends entirely on the emperor's will.

If they value you and think you're useful, then your official position will be secure.

If one can help the emperor make money, handle state affairs well, and bring peace to the world, then one can be considered a competent chief minister.

By now, Wei Guangde increasingly felt that being an official, in essence, was about strengthening the country and enriching the people, which seemed quite simple, especially in ancient societies where the starting point was low.

In fact, Wei Guangde sometimes felt conflicted.

As the chief minister, his primary responsibility was to maintain peace and tranquility throughout the land.

However, when it comes to developing the economy, one cannot avoid the current economic model that maintains global stability: the small-scale peasant economy in rural areas.

This self-sufficient business model enabled farmers to maintain a basic standard of living and reduced social unrest.

Conversely, this self-sufficiency also restricted the development of commerce within the Ming Dynasty.

The current prosperity of the Ming Dynasty's economy is entirely based on cities and foreign trade.

Many more farmers living in the countryside continue to lead a contented life, though they do not appear to be wealthy.

Should we break this environment?

Wei Guangde was unwilling, fearing that if things went wrong, it could lead to the collapse of the empire.

This was also an obstacle that ancient China's economy could overcome despite its extreme prosperity.

Articles written by later generations all say that China was just a little bit short of being the first to take the lead over the West and enter a more advanced social form.

At that time, Wei Guangde still felt somewhat regretful.

If China had been able to successfully transition from feudalism to capitalism, could the century of poverty and weakness in modern times have been avoided?
But now, sitting in this position, he finally understands.

In reality, China will never be able to take this step on its own.

No ruler would risk breaking the cornerstones that maintain social stability.

Before leaving the government office in the afternoon, I had a chat with Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping.

This time, Wei Guangde revealed to them the matter of establishing the Daming Bank, and incidentally, he also revealed for the first time that the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were investigating a case involving Beijing debts.

"Can we investigate these Beijing debts?"

Shen Shixing frowned and said.

He knew about it, but never thought of investigating the matter; he simply didn't dare.

Don't be fooled by his position as a second-ranking official; he might not be someone who has been in the capital for a long time, lending money to those who have passed the imperial examinations. He's not someone you can easily deal with.

Just think, in an era where officialdom was paramount, these creditors dared to come to the door demanding payment, even pressing a county official for repayment. They must have had some powerful connections.

"Hehe, it's not a big deal, just a few pennies."

The imperial court does not prohibit lending, but the interest rate cannot exceed the court's regulations, nor can it cover the principal with interest, let alone allow interest to compound.

After reviewing the records and identifying the principal, interest will be paid according to the law.

Wei Guangde spoke casually, but Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping both knew in their hearts that the difference was many times greater.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the principal, even the interest was fixed at one time the principal.

In other words, the borrower only needs to give the lender twice the principal to conclude the lending relationship.

This is stipulated by the imperial law, which aligns with the meaning behind Wei Guangde's words.

In reality, the interest on the bonds borrowed by the candidates from the capital was often calculated at ten times the principal.

If we really do that, who knows what kind of trouble the financial backers behind us will cause.

However, Shen Shixing remained silent.

No matter how much commotion there is, it involves a large number of newly appointed scholars, so it becomes a matter for the entire civil service.

Although some civil officials may have also participated in issuing loans to candidates and those who had passed the imperial examinations, it is likely that the majority of the profits came from the noble families and relatives of the nobility.

If civil officials could unite to overthrow this exploitative lending practice, it seems not impossible.

However, Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping knew even better that cracking down on these people's lending was ultimately aimed at serving the money shops mentioned by the Grand Secretary.

With the intervention of the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, these loan sharks will behave themselves for a while.

This period should have been the time when the Ming Dynasty's money shops were established.

Money shops would take over the vacated lending market, thus establishing themselves and gaining a foothold.

"What's the deal with this money exchange's IPO?"

Wang Jiaping suddenly asked. (End of this chapter)