prosperous age

The matter concerning the Ministry of War may have been put on hold, but it didn't end there.

"Master Wei, now that the war with Japan is over, when will Minister Wang and Minister Qi return to the capital?"

Especially Minister Wang, what are the cabinet's plans for?

Emperor Wanli suddenly asked about Wang Xijue and Qi Jiguang, who were still in Japan. Although Qi Jiguang and his men fought the battle, Wang Xijue, as the Japanese military commissioner, deserved the greatest credit.

When subordinates achieve results, the first thing to do is to affirm the direct leader; this has always been the case.

Wang Xijue's position was already quite high; even though he was recalled to the court, his qualifications still stood the test of time.

Within the cabinet, Shen Shixing and Yu Youding were both top-ranking officials in that examination, and their relationship became even closer.

The high-ranking positions in the court are all occupied now; we can't possibly send someone to Nanjing to serve as the Minister.

Based on his military achievements against Japan, Wang Xijue was fully qualified to join the cabinet.

"Your Majesty, the Cabinet has not yet discussed this matter."

Wei Guangde looked up at the Wanli Emperor, met his gaze, and smiled.

"Our dynasty has achieved a great victory in Japan, wiping away the shame of the Japanese pirates' raids on the southeast since the Jiajing era. We should be richly rewarded."

"Thanks to Lord Wang's merits."

After a slight hesitation, Wei Guangde said, "He should join the cabinet to share His Majesty's burdens."

"Join the cabinet?"

Although Emperor Wanli spoke with slight hesitation, his tone was full of joy.

Perhaps without realizing it, he actually had other thoughts in his mind.

Although he still trusted Master Wei.

But it is precisely because of this trust that we are even more worried that Master Wei will become arrogant and complacent.

For Wei Guangde, it would definitely not be a bad thing to place some people in the cabinet.

As long as he maintains his trust in Wei Guangde, his position as Grand Secretary will be secure, and he himself will be safe in the inner palace.

Emperor Wanli never doubted Wei Guangde's ability to manage the affairs of the previous dynasty.

Not only had Wei Guangde never shown him any instruction in the past, but for the past year or so, minor matters of the cabinet were drafted directly by the Directorate of Ceremonial, and major matters were submitted directly to the palace without any concealment.

If he encountered something he didn't understand, Wei Guangde would explain it to him individually, making him understand the gains and losses involved.

Ultimately, the decision was made by him, the head steward, which gave Emperor Wanli a real sense of the thrill of wielding power.

The minor matters that the cabinet handled on its own had been on the Wanli Emperor's radar for a long time last year.

He also found it annoying after reading many useless memorials.

These memorials were handled directly by the cabinet and overseen by the Directorate of Ceremonial, which made things much easier for him than when Zhang Juzheng was in power, when he had to be consulted on everything, big or small.

Zhang Juzheng's teachings to the Wanli Emperor covered all aspects of life, so he would repeatedly explain many memorials that the emperor considered useless.

Wei Guangde, of course, would not voluntarily take on these tiring and pointless tasks.

Moreover, Wei Guangde was adept at flattery, catering to the Wanli Emperor's tastes, especially in various models.

This thing, though deadly to young people, remains powerful even in later generations.

To this day, the fact that Emperor Wanli's side hall in his bedroom is filled with various gifts given by Wei Guangde is clear evidence of this.

In particular, he moved the bronze cannons used for setting off firecrackers in later generations to the Ming Dynasty and placed them in front of Emperor Wanli.

This gave the emperor, who had never fired a cannon before, a basic understanding of artillery and how it worked.

Therefore, upon hearing Wei Guangde's words, Emperor Wanli merely feigned a cheerful attitude and said, "Since Master Wei thinks it's appropriate, then let's do it according to Master Wei's wishes."

These words sounded as if they were going along with the flow, doing Wei Guangde a favor, which left Wei Guangde somewhat amused and exasperated.

In fact, he certainly didn't want Wang Xijue to join the cabinet.

With Xu Guo in the cabinet now, plus Shen Shixing and Yu Youding, there's a small group that he can handle.

Now, with the addition of Wang Xijue, this small group has essentially swept up all the top performers in that subject.

Nevertheless, Wei Guangde said with a smile, "I will summon the cabinet ministers to discuss this matter as soon as I return, and settle the matter before the army returns in triumph."

"Yes, now that there are more cabinet ministers, Master Wei can delegate most of the general affairs to them."

"Master Wei, please take good care of yourself. These important matters of the court still require your careful planning."

The Wanli Emperor continued.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Wei Guangde returned to the cabinet without saying a word.

After the court session ended, Wei Guangde returned to his residence. He had no plans for the evening and had no desire to enjoy himself at the outer quarters.

"Master, this afternoon, the money shop calculated the accounts for the past three months and sent them to your residence."

According to Manager Zhao's plan, and based on the company's articles of association, there would be a shareholders' meeting in ten days to discuss whether the quarterly reports should be presented to the owners.

Zhang Ji, who followed them in, whispered to Wei Guangde.

"Oh, take it to the study. I'll change my clothes and then go."

When Wei Guangde heard that the money shop had compiled a quarter's worth of accounts, he immediately became interested.

He also wanted to see how the money shop was doing after a quarter of a year.

Wei Guangde wasn't sure whether he should show the accounts to the other shareholders.

In fact, he didn't have high hopes for the first year of operation.

In his view, making money is a certainty, and another goal is to curb the current high interest rates in the Ming Dynasty and create a better environment for commerce.

The overall situation has improved significantly, so it doesn't matter if we take it slow from here on out.

Upon arriving at the backyard, he changed out of his official robes and into casual clothes with his wife's help. After wiping his face with a hot towel, he leisurely made his way to the study.

Zhang Ji had been waiting there with the account book, and he hurriedly bowed as soon as Wei Guangde entered.

Wei Guangde sat back down in his chair, and Zhang Ji had already brought over the account book.

Wei Guangde certainly wouldn't look at these accounts closely; he's long past the point of being fascinated by these numbers.

More than ten years ago, Wei Guangde was still very concerned about the business in the mansion.

After all, he didn't have much money at the time, his official position was low, and he had plenty of time.

Now that I've been promoted, I feel like there's less time left and things are getting busier.

Contrary to popular belief, most people think that if you hold a high-ranking official position, you'll likely have a lot of free time.

Being an official is something everyone can do; it's just about looking at documents and signing a few names in the office.

In reality, being an official involves not only handling documents but also communicating with colleagues.

In fact, Wei Guangde now receives officials from the Six Ministries or the Cabinet every day while he is on duty.

Such discussions can sometimes be quite time-consuming.

The Wanli Emperor was right; with more cabinet ministers, Wei Guangde would have fewer documents to handle and would be much freer.

When Wei Guangde opened the first page of the ledger, the first thing that caught his eye was the overall operating performance for the quarter.

The capital of Daming Qianzhuang was 2000 million taels of silver, of which 1532 million taels were lent out and 147 million taels of interest income was earned.

Of course, this interest income is on paper, not actual cash received.

The total expenditure of the money shop in the first quarter reached 65 taels.

After deducting costs from revenue, the net profit was 82 taels.

Wei Guangde noticed a line of smaller print below the expenditures section, which stated that the expenses would be higher at the beginning due to the opening of the money shop. In fact, nearly half of the more than 60 taels of silver spent occurred in the first month.

The expenditure in the following two months was only 38 taels, with an average monthly expenditure of 19 taels.

This number may become the norm for monthly averages in the future.

Of course, as more branches open, costs will also increase.

In addition, since the money shops were newly established, although many merchants tried it out and exchanged bills of exchange through the money shops, most of the bills of exchange had a term of three months. So far, a total of 170 million taels of silver have been exchanged, which should have brought the money shops an income of 35 taels of silver.

However, so far, the General Chamber of Commerce has not received any reports from the lower chambers of commerce of anyone coming to collect the silver with a draft. Therefore, the 35 taels of silver is only an income on paper and has not become actual cash.

"117 million taels, that's a pretty good result."

After calculating the first quarter's profits, Wei Guangde spoke to Zhang Ji.

Zhang Ji then spoke up, saying, "Master, Manager Zhao also said that he inquired about the merchants' use of those drafts."

Often, when they receive the drafts we issue, they don't go directly to our office to collect the cash; instead, they use them to pay their bills.

"Because if you bring a draft to our bank to withdraw cash, the money exchange will charge you a 2% commission."

"Oh, I see. So they're just using our drafts for circulation now?"

Wei Guangde was startled and blurted out.

Using drafts from the Daming Money Shop as cash was a business that Wei Guangde planned to develop in a few years, which meant directly issuing bank bills.

To be more precise, it was the birth of paper money.

But he still didn't expect that merchants in the Ming Dynasty had already started circulating the bills of exchange issued by money shops.

It can only be said that businessmen do have this kind of sensitivity and know how to maximize profits.

"Now, Manager Zhao and his team are considering how to attract more of these bills of exchange."

Currently, there are still more than 600 million taels of silver accumulated in the branches across various regions.

However, the private lending market is actually quite large, but it seems that the cash reserves in the treasury are not keeping up.

In some areas, branch offices have now been instructed to control the scale of subsequent lending.

Zhang Ji said in a low voice.

"Didn't we say before that many big businessmen don't have much need for loans?"

Locally, those lacking money have no collateral, while those with collateral lack money.

Wei Guangde asked, puzzled.

He remembered that it was about a month ago, and Zhang Ji had reported the same situation.

"That was the case before, but recently in Songjiang Prefecture, many prominent gentry have been mortgaging their land in an attempt to borrow large sums of money from banks."

Zhang Ji had just opened his mouth when Wei Guangde exclaimed in surprise, "What?"
how so?"

Although Wei Guangde was a financial novice, he knew the term "bank run".

Although the money shop did not conduct deposit and withdrawal business, there should theoretically be no possibility of a "bank run".

Therefore, he was shocked and lost his composure when he heard that the wealthy gentry were borrowing large sums of money, seemingly diverting funds from the money shops.

What sustains the operation of a money shop is the availability of credit. When money shops rely on their own capital for lending, they are not afraid of this situation happening.

It's no wonder that the money shops weren't concerned about the availability of credit, but rather about the insufficient credit in their treasuries, which prevented them from lending out large sums of money.

However, Wei Guangde's curiosity was indeed piqued.

Over the years, most of the profitable businesses in the Ming Dynasty were started by him.

Did the merchants from Jiangnan discover some way to make money, so much so that they were willing to mortgage their entire families to borrow money for investment?

"When buying land in Southeast Asia, some maritime merchants helped the imperial court purchase grain from Southeast Asia a couple of years ago. They discovered that if the land in Southeast Asia was cultivated properly, the yield was even higher than that in Jiangnan."

And they also had seagoing vessels that could bring the grain back.

Therefore, some businessmen bought land in overseas vassal states last year to build estates, and I heard that the harvest was quite good.

My lord, you have no idea how much land there is in Jiangnan. A mu of good land can sell for more than 30 taels of silver.

The cost of buying land in Southeast Asia was said to be less than ten taels of silver per acre.

If you do the math, they mortgaged their land in Jiangnan and then used the money to buy land in Southeast Asia.

"You can borrow 20 taels of silver from a bank for one mu of land, and that's enough to buy about three mu of land in Southeast Asia."

Zhang Ji finally told Wei Guangde what he had heard, which surprised him greatly.

He only considered purchasing grain from Southeast Asia to make up for the reduced domestic grain production caused by disasters, but did not consider stockpiling land in Southeast Asia to grow grain.

"Hehe, sir, you didn't expect that, did you?"

I heard that some maritime merchants made money, but when they returned to their hometowns, they couldn't buy any land because all the good land was in the hands of the gentry.

They are not the type to easily sell land.

Now things are much better. If we can't buy it in our hometown, we'll go to Southeast Asia to buy it, and we'll even buy more land.

Zhang Ji was still talking when he said that it was still due to insufficient supply and demand. Merchants are profit-driven and naturally know how to choose.

Of course, if they had a choice, they would still prefer to buy land and property in their hometown at a high price.

Isn't it because it's unavailable?
Some of the land was in the hands of the gentry, while the rest was in the hands of self-cultivating farmers. These were assets that would not be easily sold and were meant to be passed down through generations.

It is said that land was annexed at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but in reality, the land annexed by landlords and gentry accounted for slightly more than half of the total amount.

Most of the land is still in the hands of farmers.

This is also why the Ming Dynasty has not yet run its course; the people can still hold on for several more decades.

The gentry were able to continue to arbitrarily acquire land, and after several decades, once the last private lands were stockpiled and concentrated on a large scale, the Ming Dynasty was doomed.

However, it seems that at this moment, this process was suddenly interrupted.

Knowing that there were cheap lands in Southeast Asia with even higher yields, the profit-driven gentry naturally knew how to choose.

The land they've already acquired will certainly not be touched, but that doesn't mean they won't participate in the annexation of land in Southeast Asia.

Okay, it's also a merger.

In the past, people wouldn't dare to take advantage of a good deal, but the wealthy people of the Ming Dynasty today don't have such concerns.

The imperial navy completely controls the entire South Seas.

Among the vassal states of Southeast Asia, who would dare to lay a hand on a Ming Dynasty merchant? That would be like an old man eating poison, tired of living.

"Won't this disrupt the stability of land prices in Jiangnan?"

Wei Guangde sat there, not even looking through the account books, and asked a question.

"Probably not. I've heard that no one has sold off large amounts of land in Jiangnan to buy property in Southeast Asia. Most people are using their land deeds as collateral for loans at our bank."

According to Manager Zhao, about 700 million taels of silver of the loans issued may fall into this category, and the money shop has already collected over 30 mu of farmland as collateral.

Zhang Ji immediately replied.

"Land prices and grain prices will be affected. The impact may not be immediate, but it will definitely happen."

Wei Guangde muttered to himself.

After a long pause, he finally spoke: "That's good too. There's cheaper land outside. I imagine the gentry won't keep their eyes on the small plots of land held by the peasants anymore."

Perhaps, it's still a good thing. (End of Chapter)