The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 136 The first year of Shenwu
The reason why Zhu Cihong wanted these military officers to be contractors was to improve efficiency and avoid corruption, at least to control corruption within an acceptable range.

The second is to take a fancy to their organizational and management capabilities. After all, there are really not many people who can read and write in ancient times and can manage things.

In addition to the wooden model produced by the Ministry of Industry, there are also a large number of drawings. Zhu Cihong sent each of them a copy of the drawings of their respective parts to be constructed, and asked the construction supervisor to sign a contract with each of them. He left the palace and began to prepare.

Even if they didn't want to, everyone didn't dare to say no, and they were all ready to complete the tasks assigned by His Majesty honestly.

Similarly, almost everyone was reluctant to take out their own money, so they all went to the bank to prepare for loans.

Princess Kunxing, who was worried about how to start the business, was so happy that she hadn't completed a single business so far. After hearing the news, she went to the head office in person.

Although the bank's interest rate is much lower than that of usury outside.

But obviously once the royal family is involved, it is not a matter of interest, but that no one wants to have anything to do with the royal family in terms of money.

Especially nowadays people like to copy people's homes at every turn.

In this case, not to mention setting the interest rate low, even if it is reversed, no one is willing to borrow money from the bank.

This was a great blow to Princess Kunxing, who was eager to make money for her brother.

At this moment, seeing hundreds of military attaches who have borrowed from the head office, although they know what is going on, their enthusiasm is still very high.

"See Her Royal Highness."

"Well, it's all free!"

"Are you all here for a loan? How much do you want to borrow? How long?"

Princess Kunxing waved her hands and looked at them, as if seeing mountains of gold and silver.

"Back to Your Royal Highness, I intend to borrow 1000 taels for a month."

"His Royal Highness, I also intend to borrow 500 taels..."

"Well, it's easy to say, all of you are rich people, don't say 1000 taels, even 1 taels are fine, the president of the bank will introduce the interest to you first!"

Princess Kunxing was obviously in high spirits, and she completely brought herself into the role of the bank's treasurer. After speaking, she introduced: "The Royal Bank's loans are divided into short-term and long-term. Two taels of silver, one tael per day, and only three taels per month. If the outstanding payment exceeds one month, it will be calculated on a long-term basis.

The long-term is one year, the interest is one hundred taels and five taels per month, and the interest is paid on a monthly basis, which can be repaid in advance. If the outstanding payment exceeds one year, the interest will remain the same, but the interest will be compounded..."

After everyone listened to it, they all nodded their heads, thinking that it was fair. The interest of 100 taels a month and three taels, even without compound interest, was indeed very difficult to borrow outside.

"Well, is the Royal Bank fair?"

"Yes, yes, the princess's Royal Bank really benefits all people in the world."

Everyone hurriedly boasted.

Then they signed the loan contract one after another, deducting one month's interest in advance, and then left with the banknotes and ingots in the cloth bag specially used by the bank.

Since the treasure banknotes have not yet been fully circulated and approved, only [-]% of the treasure banknotes and [-]% of the ingots were given.

"Quickly calculate, how much did you earn in total?"

After everyone left, Princess Kunxing urged impatiently, with an excited look on her face.

All the shopkeepers were also looking forward to it. After a while of calculations, an old maid reported: "Back to Your Highness, I have lent out a total of 15 taels, and the interest earned is 500 taels."

"it is good!"

"Brother Huang has a way. I made so much money in one go. I'm afraid it's worth 3 to [-] taels if I count the loan from other branches."

Hearing that she earned 5000 taels, Princess Kunxing clenched her fists excitedly, full of confidence again.

But after the excitement, he sighed again: "Oh! It's a pity that it's just this one time. It would be great if so many people came to borrow money every day."

"Princess, why don't we lower the interest rate?"

"Our interest rate is already very low. The problem is not the interest rate, but that everyone is worried about borrowing money from our bank." Princess Kunxing waved her hand.

All the shopkeepers also understood this, and were helpless about it.

"Lending money is not urgent. As the saying goes, Lu Yao knows his horsepower, and he knows people's hearts over time. Over time, people who are short of money will come to the bank to borrow money. The current task is to open branches as soon as possible and cultivate more people. More shopkeepers will come out."

That's what Princess Kunxing said, but after tasting the sweetness, she called her two younger brothers over as soon as she returned to the palace, and forced them to borrow a long-term loan of 1000 taels of silver each.

As a result, they couldn't stop and couldn't hold back. The concubines, eunuchs in charge, and maids in the palace were also forced to borrow dozens or even hundreds of taels.

After hearing about it, Queen Zhou and Chongzhen, who was lying on the bed, supported their daughter and borrowed 1 taels each.

And when the news spread that thousands of military officers had borrowed a total of more than 100 million taels from the bank, the dignitaries and businessmen in the capital were stunned.

Everyone couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, it really is a bank opened by the royal family, how can ordinary banks compare to this boldness and handwriting?
With the military attache taking the lead, in the following days, many people who were in desperate need of money also went to the bank to borrow money, and the military attache also began to recruit people to build brick kilns.

For the hundreds of thousands of military households working outside the city, Zhu Cihong also distributed two taels of silver banknotes to each of them, asking them to go home and prepare to come back next year for the New Year.

Hundreds of thousands of military households also flocked to the royal shops in the city as soon as they got the treasure banknotes, and began to buy some cloth, cotton and the like.

For a time the outer city was overcrowded.

The reason why these military households are being paid wages now is because Zhu Cihong had previously ordered Hong Niangzi to purchase a large amount of cotton cloth and needles and threads in the south, which had just been shipped three days ago.

The military households finally finished their shopping in the first ten days of December and returned to their respective fortresses, and it was finally snowing heavily in the capital, and it only snowed in December, which was considered very late.

For such abnormal weather, Zhu Cihong can only guess that the Little Ice Age is coming to an end.

The New Year's Eve of the 17th year of Chongzhen came as scheduled. Although the people in the northern provinces are still not full enough to eat and wear warm clothes, at least they can spend a peaceful holiday together as a family. They don't have to worry about it anymore, and they can at least have a bite of hot food and fine food .

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhu Cihong also officially changed his reign name to Shenwu, which ended the 17 years of war and the people's distress in Chongzhen, and ushered in the first year of Shenwu in Ming Dynasty.

The title of Shenwu was chosen by Zhu Cihong himself, not because he boasted, but because he believed that he was destined to become a god-like emperor.

His literary and martial arts are destined to surpass the emperors of all dynasties.

It's not that his ability and strategy are really better than the founding emperors of all dynasties.Rather, his knowledge and thinking have already far surpassed this era.

(End of this chapter)