Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 340 Sun Moon Bank Zhengyangmen Branch

After leaving the Jesuit residence, Wei Chao did not return to the palace immediately. Instead, he followed the main road to the Zhengyangmen branch of the Sun Moon Bank, which was located outside Zhengyangmen and close to the Qiansanmen moat.

The Zhengyangmen branch was originally a three-story restaurant registered under the Zheng family name. After the Zheng family's downfall and Zheng Yangxing's expulsion from Beijing, the restaurant was confiscated by Cui Wensheng as a family asset. Such assets typically have two options: retaining the original business and continuing operations, as was the case with the Sun and Moon Star-Picking Restaurant in Nanxunfang. Alternatively, they could be sold and converted into cash for storage.

This restaurant had already been sold once. As usual, the job of selling it was handed over to the Nei Cheng Yun Ku (Inner Transport Warehouse). Seeing that the restaurant was performing quite well, with a steady monthly revenue of tens or even hundreds of taels, the managers there, as usual, sought to pocket the proceeds. The specific operation involved no technical skill; it simply involved lowering the estimated value and then having a relative purchase the restaurant at that low price.

As long as the valuation wasn't too low, and the sales account and the shipping warehouse's receipts were aligned, it generally wouldn't be noticed. They didn't even have to prepare a special fee to cover the cost; they only had to pay a lump sum fee to the Imperial Household Department after the sale was complete.

However, the Neichengyunku encountered a rather unusual situation. With the ascension of the new emperor, the entire Silijian staff was dismissed, and the situation was smoothly restored. Before the new, relatively independent team could become corrupt, the emperor, under the pretext of cracking down on the East Factory, re-established the West Factory.

The West Factory, a completely independent internal affairs monitoring agency, immediately collaborated with the East Factory in launching a brutal anti-corruption campaign within the imperial city walls. The Internal Transport Depot, a hotbed of corruption, was completely overhauled, and the head eunuch, Wang Hu, was sentenced to death by hanging for embezzling a massive amount. Following this campaign, this particular restaurant also became the subject of confiscation for the second time.

After the official decree to open a bank was issued, the Imperial Household Department dispatched personnel to select a site within the capital. The eunuch in charge of the site selection found that the three-story building had a prime location and size. With a new sign, it could become the most prestigious "financial institution" in the capital, without requiring the cost of land. Consequently, the Imperial Household Department canceled its original plan to sell the building and allocated a batch of building materials from its warehouse to renovate the restaurant.

Before the restaurant's relocation, there were no tea shops or snack stalls near it. This was because the restaurant wasn't solely catering to the wealthy. Whether you had copper or silver in your pocket, whether you were looking for a grand banquet or just a simple breakfast, you were always greeted. But now that the restaurant has relocated, and the needs of the area haven't changed significantly, a niche has been vacated. Many enterprising individuals have taken up their labor, set up stalls, and made a living in this vast, blue ocean.

When the carriage arrived, the bank was already open for business, but there was no one in the lobby except the clerks. Instead, there were many pedestrians having breakfast sitting in the tea shops and snack stalls around the store.

It was already daylight, and the lanterns of the Imperial Household Department had been unlit, but still hung on the carriage frame. The carriage stopped at the bank door, immediately causing a small discussion.

As usual, Wei Chao stepped off the carriage, stepping on the eunuch's back. His crimson robe, embroidered with golden pythons, appeared in the warm, yellow sunlight, and the chatter escalated into a commotion. "Check out!" This single stone stirred up a thousand commotions, and many diners left their bowls unfinished before throwing their money on the table and hurriedly departing.

Wei Chao naturally didn't care about the passersby's fear and avoidance. He stepped over the threshold and strode into the lobby. At that moment, the bank's owner was leaning on the table behind the counter, yawning. He saw Wei Chao through the wooden fence and immediately closed his mouth, which was so big that it could fit a whole persimmon.

The bank keeper trotted out of the teller room and plopped down on his knees before Wei Chao. "Your servant Hui Jingao pays respects to the great ancestor."

Hui Jingao was once a junior assistant secretary of the Imperial Household Department, in charge of the roster of eunuchs. During the "merger and downsizing" of the government offices, Liu Ruoyu transferred him to the Imperial Household Department for a temporary position. Following the layoffs, he was transferred to the Sun Moon Bank, which was directly under the Imperial Household Department. His current position is President of the Zhengyangmen Sub-branch of the Sun Moon Bank's Beijing branch. Due to the bank's recent opening and lack of staff, he also assumed the role of manager.

Hui Jingao's kneeling stunned the staff in the lobby. Of all the staff at the Zhengyangmen branch, Hui Jingao was the only eunuch in the palace; the others were civilian employees. They knew this "bank" had a palace connection, but since they weren't palace personnel, they didn't have to kneel before the eunuch and call him their ancestor according to palace etiquette. Furthermore, among these staff were several accomplished scholars with distinguished academic titles. The Wei Dynasty possessed none of the five virtues: Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents, and Teacher, making their kneeling even less worthy.

But it didn't seem right for them to just stand there and watch while the person in charge knelt on the ground. An old scholar named Yu Tinghua was the first to react. He thought, no matter whether they were civil officials, military officials, or eunuchs, they were all officials. Although scholars didn't have to kneel when meeting officials, they still had to bow.

Yu Tinghua quickly stepped forward and bowed to the golden python on Wei Chao's body. "Student Yu Tinghua greets the president."

The Sun-Moon Bank's organizational structure was personally designed by the emperor. Hierarchically, it consisted of a central headquarters, provincial branches, and local sub-branches. The headquarters was located within the imperial city, originally next to the Nei Chengyun Warehouse. Later, with the merger of internal government offices, the Duzhijian was abolished and relocated, and the vacant space was allocated to the Sun-Moon Bank as its headquarters.

The head office has one eunuch who holds the seal, one eunuch who serves as the general manager, and two directors, the left and right directors and the deputy general manager. The seal and the general manager are also known as the president and vice president, respectively. Below the head office are the General Affairs Bureau, the Internal Supervision Bureau, and the General Affairs Bureau. Each bureau has one director and one deputy director.

Under the General Affairs Bureau, branches were established in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, with branch presidents sharing the same rank as the deputy general managers. Currently, only the Beijing branch was officially established nationwide. It shared the old Duzhijian Yamen with the central bank.

Below the provincial branch, there are local branches, and the branch presidents have the same rank as the chief executive. Today, the four branches below the Beijing branch, namely, the four branches of the Beijing Bank located outside Zhengyangmen, inside Fuchengmen, inside Andingmen, and inside Chaoyangmen, have all been listed.

Although the employees had never seen the Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Household Department who also served as the President, everyone knew that the Great Ancestor was equal to the Chief Eunuch and equal to the President.

Therefore, after Yu Tinghua performed the salute, others followed his example and performed the etiquette of ordinary people meeting officials. Those with honors stood up, while those without honors knelt down, and they all called the president the general manager.

"Everyone get up." Wei Chao waved his hand.

"Thank you, Great Ancestor." Hui Jingao kowtowed loudly to Wei Chao before getting up from the ground. "Great Ancestor, please come this way." He waved his hand and called out loudly, "Come here! Bring tea!"

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Wei Chao followed Hui Jingao to the tea room next to the cashier's office. This had originally been one of the private rooms on the restaurant's first floor. After a simple renovation, most of the private rooms had been demolished and connected to the original counter to create the cashier's office. Only the two rooms at the edge remained, reserved for distinguished guests with spending exceeding one thousand taels. However, until now, this tea room had never welcomed such a distinguished guest.

"It's been almost half a month since we opened. How's business?" Wei Chao asked as soon as he sat down.

"Go and get the account book." Hui Jingao gave the order first, and then said slowly: "There is almost no business, just a few pawnshops. The largest flow is an acceptance of 200 taels." Because the business was small, Hui Jingao remembered it very clearly.

Wei Chao raised his eyebrows, and immediately had an idea. "Could it be that Envoy Liu did it?"

Currently, the Internal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, in collaboration with the Treasury Banknote Bureau, has designed and produced Sun Moon Bank's capital silver notes, using the Xuanchangji silver notes as a model, totaling over 500,000 taels. They're still producing more. However, to date, the palace has only issued two silver notes as rewards, both in 200-tael denominations. "Yes," Hui Jingao nodded. "The day before yesterday, Court Envoy Liu came in with the notes to exchange for silver. Although he wasn't wearing official uniform, I recognized him immediately." Liu Heqing was an old imperial physician, known to many of the older palace staff.

Liu Heqing exchanged money to "repay" Wang An. After receiving two hundred taels of official ingots at the Zhengyangmen branch, he immediately took the silver to other money houses in the Zhengxifang area and exchanged the cash for miscellaneous bills of varying denominations. Feeling that using the silver bills granted by the palace would be too conspicuous to "repay," he thoughtfully performed this act. Adding this to his family's existing savings, he collected a total of four hundred taels. However, his efforts were in vain. Cao Huachun refused to accept his money and gave him a sour look.

"Envoy Liu actually cashed that note." Wei Chao, unaware of the twists and turns involved, assumed Liu Heqing simply obeyed the emperor's orders and spent the "vulgar item." "This is the first silver note ever issued by my Sun Moon Bank, and it was given to me personally by His Majesty. If it were mine, I would have kept it and passed it down to my descendants. Unfortunately, I have no descendants, and no silver note."

Hui Jingao's eyes twitched twice, and he didn't dare to respond.

Until now, the salaries of the palace servants in active service and the pensions of the retired palace servants were all paid in silver. Previously, Wei Chao had taken the note from Wang An to the Neichengyunku to withdraw the silver, and the Neichengyunku had directly called a car to take the several thousand taels to his home.

"Have you handed in the silver note?" Wei Chao suddenly asked.

"No." Hui Jingao shook his head. "The accounting deadline is still several days away."

Some internal government offices dealing with money have begun to use newly coined words.

"Here." Wei Chao pulled out two Xuanchang notes worth one hundred taels from his sleeve. "I'll give you another deal. Don't give me that note. I want it."

Hui Jingao was stunned. According to the "Provisional Banking Regulations," the Sun Moon Bank was not allowed to accept bills from banks, bill exchanges, pawnshops, businesses, or other financial institutions other than its own branches. Furthermore, it would only issue a bill for the corresponding amount if it saw cash of a specified purity.

But rules are dead, people are alive. Hui Jingao took the two Xuanchang notes from Wei Chao's hand and said, "I'll take your notes. Once I receive the cash, I'll give you the other note. How about that?"

"Okay." Wei Chao nodded. He just wanted the silver note as a souvenir. It didn't matter when he got it.

At this time, someone knocked on the tea room door.

"Come in." Hui Jingao said.

The door was pushed open, and two waiters carrying trays walked in. One of them was carrying tea, and the other was carrying an account book, and they walked up to Wei Chao and Hui Jingao.

Hui Jingao picked up the account book and handed it to Wei Chao, saying, "Grandfather, this is the turnover for the past two weeks since the establishment of the business."

Wei Chao took the account book and flipped through it briefly, and found that in addition to the acceptance of 200 taels, the largest order of Zhengyangmen Branch was a real estate mortgage business with a price tag of 50 taels of silver, a simple monthly interest rate of 3%, a term of one year, and repayment of principal and interest at maturity. It could be repaid in advance, but one month's interest would need to be paid as penalty.

"Why is it so little?" Wei Chao threw the account book aside. "Tell me what you think."

Hui Jingao barely hesitated; he'd already thought about it. "Business is all about credibility, even the palace's assets are subject to this custom. After all, our bank is just a new money house, completely nameless. And in the capital, there are dozens, even hundreds, of established pawnshops." Hui Jingao paused.

"Besides, our bank currently only has a branch in the capital. Even if we exchange the silver for banknotes, we can't use it elsewhere. When people who come to our bank hear this news, they almost turn around and leave."

Wei Chao nodded and asked, "Then what do you think we should do?"

"Prescribe the right medicine for the problem and quickly open more branches." Hui Jingao gave an example: "For example, Xuanchangji had branches along the canal. Silver bills could be redeemed anywhere, so everyone recognized their bills."

"What if we are only talking about the capital?" Wei Chao asked again.

"Please forgive me for speaking frankly, Great Ancestor." Hui Jingao bowed.

"That's what you say."

"We can't just talk about the capital," Hui Jingao shook his head. "Money shops and banknote exchanges are all about facilitating the flow of business. Merchants need large bills because silver is inconvenient to carry. You wouldn't carry around two hundred taels of silver ingots all day, would you?" Hui Jingao patted the two Xuanchang-issued notes and put on an ingratiating smile.

"This is especially true for the wealthy merchants who sell porcelain, silk, sugar, salt, and grain. These large-scale businesses often involve turnover of thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver. Cash would have to be transported by cart or boat. If our bank can't benefit the world, we can only do small local business and compete with those pawnshops for business." Hui Jingao hesitated for a moment, then said, "To put it bluntly, the bank's revenue is not even enough to cover the salaries of our servants. It would be better to rent this building to someone else to open a restaurant."

Wei Chao looked at Hui Jingao deeply, nodded, and said, "I will report your opinion to the Emperor."

(End of this chapter)