Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Liu Lishun, like other Suzhou and Songjiang businessmen, was overjoyed at the opening of the Suzhou-Songjiang Stock Exchange.

As an official dedicated to serving the people, Liu Lishun paid close attention to the development of industry in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area after it was determined that the area would focus on industrial development.

They not only established various industrial parks, but also actively helped them sell their goods and improved market order.

Stock exchanges are an integral part of market order and a driving force for industrial and commercial development, demonstrating their growing power in the capital.

It allows factories to buy and sell more freely, and gives more people peace of mind to invest in industry and commerce.

In order to secure this exchange, Liu Lishun made numerous requests and organized merchants from Suzhou and Songjiang to purchase two million yuan worth of war bonds, finally obtaining the court's approval.

Liu Lishun and the Suzhou-Songjiang businessmen fully supported the establishment of this exchange.

The only thing they regretted was that the imperial court did not agree to open a metal exchange next to the stock exchange.

This means that the exchange of gold, silver, and copper coins in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area still needs to refer to the prices of the Beijing Metal Exchange as a guide.

The trade of metals such as copper, iron, tin, and lead was also somewhat inconvenient.

Fortunately, thanks to Liu Lishun's strong advocacy, the emperor decided to establish a futures exchange next to the stock exchange in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area.

This exchange, while lacking the authority to set reference exchange rates for silver, allows the trading of various commodities, including metals such as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and zinc, as well as other goods such as grain, raw silk, timber, charcoal, coal, petroleum, edible oil, sugar, and paper.

This is also the development direction of the Beijing Metal Exchange, from the initial precious metals trading to the trading of all categories of metals, and then to the transformation into a comprehensive futures exchange.

However, due to water pollution caused by the Mingzhi Press Park, Zhu Youjian decided to restrict industry in the capital. In the future, the northern futures exchange might be located in Tianjin, while the capital's metals exchange would focus on the financial sector.

In the future, Tianjin will serve as the center of the Beijing-Tianjin-Pinggu industrial base, much like the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area is to the Jiangnan region.

When Liu Lishun takes up his post in Shuntian Prefecture in the future, he will be in charge of these matters.

Liu Lishun was aware of this, which is why he attached great importance to the futures exchange and opened it together with the stock exchange.

To encourage people to trade on the futures exchanges, Liu Lishun loudly proclaimed at the opening ceremonies of the two exchanges:

"His Majesty is already aware of your patriotism."

"Therefore, a futures exchange was specially approved to be established outside of the stock exchange."

"All bulk commodities can be traded on futures exchanges."

"The supply and marketing group will place orders on the futures exchange, and anyone willing to accept this price can come and trade."

They placed the supply and marketing group's orders directly on the futures exchange to create a buzz for this unfamiliar trading venue.

Upon hearing that Liu Lishun had put two million yuan worth of orders into the futures exchange, the businessmen present reacted enthusiastically.

Last year, the total value of orders received by the entire Suzhou-Songjiang New Area was only two million yuan, which spurred the rapid development of the New Area's industry.

At the very beginning of the year, the imperial court issued another two million orders. This made the business owners in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area feel that the development of the new area this year would not be inferior to that of last year.

Especially since this order came from Daming Supply and Marketing Group, as long as the goods can be sold, there will be a steady stream of orders in the future.

Some businessmen shouted:
Are there any orders for next year?

What can you offer as collateral?

This is a matter of great concern to many businessmen, and their voices were so loud that Liu Lishun heard them and responded: "As long as the supply and marketing group does not go bankrupt, orders will continue to pour in."

"This group will continue to implement wartime-like procurement measures, and will be responsible for the buying and selling of basic necessities such as rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea."

"We hope that everyone will support us enthusiastically and not worry about the meager profits."

"Even if we encounter a crisis like last year in the future, the supply and marketing group will still be there to support us."

These words resonated with many businessmen, who vividly remembered the crisis caused by the sudden interruption of wartime procurement last year.

After that setback, many people have become more cautious about investing in expansion, and some are even worried that they will lose everything.

Now that the supply and marketing group wants to normalize some of its wartime procurement measures, they naturally want to express their support, and some even plan to do business with the supply and marketing group.

Regarding the guarantees requested by some businessmen, Liu Lishun said:
"No one can guarantee what will happen next year."

"However, this year's transaction prices, delivery periods, and transaction margins will all be guaranteed by the futures exchange."

"The futures exchange will adhere to the principles of openness, fairness, and impartiality to provide a futures market that the public can trust."

"From now on, all major material transactions between the imperial court and local government offices will be completed through the futures exchange."

As he spoke, he had the logistics officials announce the logistics supply orders for the Annam campaign on the spot, which would also be traded through the futures exchange.

Gu Yanwu accepted several orders on the spot and also issued purchase orders for cotton yarn and cloth.

Factory owners in the shipbuilding industrial park, such as Wu Shirui, purchased timber from vassal states like the Principality of Gangneung through the stock exchange.

The salt merchants of Lianghuai and the silk merchants of Huzhou were also very supportive of the futures exchange, and symbolically completed several transactions.

The Suzhou-Songjiang Futures Exchange began to attract the attention of businessmen and drew in liquidity from those seeking to profit from price differences.

The same is true of the stock exchange. Jiangnan merchants who have been to the capital know that it is an even larger speculative venue, where some short-term speculative activities are even more exciting than casinos.

Although the emperor strictly restricted speculative activities and made it clear that the financial industry should serve the three major industries of agriculture, commerce, and industry, he still could not prohibit merchants from speculating.

On the opening day, the stock prices of many listed companies fluctuated several times. The tax officials dispatched by the Taifusi Tax Bureau to the Suzhou-Songjiang Stock Exchange received more than 10,000 taels of stamp duty.

At a stamp duty rate of one-thousandth, this represents a transaction worth over ten million taels.

The scale of the capital flow was so large that Yingtian Bank, which was responsible for settlement, had to temporarily suspend operations.

Of course, what made the people in charge of Yingtian Bank both happy and sad was that some of these funds would remain in the bank indefinitely, circulating in their bank accounts.

This allowed them to access the industrial and commercial markets outside of their official business. Almost all the major businessmen in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area keep funds in banks.

The same applies to Sihai Bank. Although they failed to become the designated partner bank of the exchange, they cooperated with the Supply and Marketing Group and obtained the right to issue foreign trade bonds.

Part of the supply and marketing group's funds were raised through the issuance of foreign trade certificates. These certificates would replace paper money as the official currency for the imperial court's foreign transactions.

At the same time, it was also a type of security, traded on a stock exchange. If its value fluctuated by more than 30% compared to silver dollars, the imperial court would require the Sihai Bank and the Supply and Marketing Group to take measures to safeguard the value of the foreign trade certificates.

The foreign trade industrial park in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area is also being established. It aims to provide foreign businesses with more convenient trading venues, modeled after some policies of overseas free trade zones.

The entire Suzhou-Songjiang New Area is developing rapidly once again, attracting increasing amounts of capital from the Jiangnan region to invest in industry and commerce. (End of Chapter)