Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 410 Large Deposits and Fire Consumption

Hearing the question, Gao Shiming did not answer immediately, but cast his eyes on his teacup in the blink of an eye. He found that the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup had already emerged from the water, so he took the cup and walked to another square table.

A small stove sat on the square table, a painted pottery kettle resting on it. Because the charcoal in the stove wasn't very high, the water in the kettle wasn't boiling. Gao Shiming lifted the lid of the teacup, gently placed it on the holder, then lifted the kettle and slowly refilled it.

Dinesh Joao's gaze followed Gao Shiming's movements, finally settling on Gao Shiming's back. Just when he thought Gao Shiming was unwilling to answer and was about to remain silent, Gao Shiming finally spoke: "Would you like some more water, please?"

Following Gao Shiming's question, Dinesh Joao turned and glanced down at his teacup, realizing the water wasn't low enough to require more. He was about to decline, but subconsciously felt that this eunuch Gao wasn't asking about the tea, but was testing him.

After spending so many years in China, Dinesh Joao has discovered that Chinese people often use Tibetan dialects when speaking. This Tibetan dialect is not a concealment of information in the business sense, but a constant test.

Dinesh Joao's impression is that these Chinese people are always suspicious and always trying to test the waters. They won't speak directly until they've ascertained the other person's true intentions. Furthermore, not only are they unwilling to speak directly and answer questions, they're also reluctant to directly express their suspicion or dislike for you. Even when they don't want to reply, they resort to evasive rhetoric.

This phenomenon is particularly evident among officials. The higher the official, the more secretive their words become.

Of all the officials Dinesh Joao had met, the most direct was none other than Lord Zhu, whom he had met at Xu Butangli's home. Lord Zhu asked questions directly and made requests directly. He didn't beat around the bush like others, who would take a long time to get the truth out. Dinesh Joao admired Lord Zhu's personality, but unfortunately, he never found out where he lived. Otherwise, he would have visited with gifts and made friends.

After thinking about it for a long time, Dinesh Joao still didn't know whether he should add water or not.

Dinesh Joao chuckled bitterly to himself and pretended not to understand, skipping the question about adding water. He said, "We've been in Beijing for a long time, waiting for the opening of Tianjin so we can deliver the goods the court wants to Tianjin. We discussed it with Minister Li before. He said he would discuss policies and prices with us later. But he's gone. We want to know who will be in charge of the follow-up, discussing policies, and receiving the goods."

Dinesh Joao hates long sentences. After finishing such a long paragraph, he felt like his brain was drained of all its energy.

"What goods does the court need?" This time, Gao Shiming reacted quickly. As soon as Dinesh Joao finished speaking, he returned to his seat and sat down without picking up the pot or the cup.

Dinesh Joao replied, "Food and crude iron. Minister Li said we can exchange fine porcelain, painted pottery, silk, linen fabrics, and handicrafts for food and crude iron at a price better than the market price. So years ago, we sent people to Southeast Asia to raise funds."

Gao Shiming immediately pressed, "When will these arrive?" Without much thought, Gao Shiming could already guess that these things were destined for the Liao Incident. The Liao Incident was the Emperor's primary concern, and therefore the primary concern for servants like them. If the Liao Incident could bring him to the attention of his master, a promotion would be just around the corner. Compared to this, the profit from selling the house was a minor matter.

"The crude iron has been loaded, it should be here soon. The shipping route is open, so it should arrive soon. There's not much grain left, but it might be now. We'll be able to get a large quantity by harvest time." The rare eagerness on Gao Shiming's face rekindled Dinesh João's businessman's confidence. "We have a great influence on the seas, in the South China Sea," he said proudly.

Ryan Hobbs also nodded continuously. It was he who wrote the letter to the Mining Industry Association asking for crude iron.

Gao Shiming was silent for a moment, then continued the previous question: "The new Minister of Revenue is the current Nanjing Minister of Revenue, Wang Yingjiao, also known as Wang Qianfu. The angel will soon be heading south with the imperial edict. This round trip may take some time."

The angels Gao Shiming referred to were actually the ninth-rank messengers of the Ministry of Rites. Because the Ministry of Rites was responsible for conveying imperial decrees and conferring titles, any trip outside the capital was considered a "mission on behalf of Heaven," hence the term "angels." The head of the Ministry of Rites, the seventh-rank official, was known as the Archangel.

"Okay. Thank you." Dinesh Joao nodded and asked, "Will Minister Wang continue Minister Li's policy?"

"I don't know what regulations Minister Li has set. So I can't guarantee that Minister Wang won't make any adjustments," Gao Shiming said, bowing to the north. "But the national policy of opening up to trade was personally ordained by His Majesty. No matter which Minister comes to power, this will remain unchanged. You can rest assured."

Dinesh Joao's smile widened. He quickly praised the emperor, "Your Majesty is wise, Your Majesty is wise."

Gao Shiming nodded in agreement. He habitually reached for the place that was most convenient for him, but found nothing. Then he remembered that he had not brought the teacup with him.

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Gao Shiming stood up again and walked over to the square table where the stove and kettle were placed. Just as he picked up the teacup and was about to return to the two foreign merchants to offer them tea and send them off, Dinesh Joao's broken Chinese voice came from behind him: "Eunuch Gao, I'd like to borrow the kettle."

"Okay." Gao Shiming came to Dinesh Joao with a kettle.

By this time, Dinesh Joao had stood up. "I can do it myself."

Gao Shiming didn't force him, as he didn't want to serve foreigners anyway. "Be careful, don't burn yourself." Gao Shiming handed the teapot to Dinesh Joao and then returned to his seat with the teacup.

He did not make a gesture to serve tea to the guest, but slowly chewed the snacks with the tea, waiting for the foreigner to speak, while silently thinking about the transportation of grain and iron from Southeast Asia to Tianjin.

The two capitals are separated by more than 2,000 miles. Even if Wang Yingjiao didn't play tricks and refused to be summoned again, he would have to travel overnight after receiving the imperial edict. The round trip would take at least half a month. If Wang Yingjiao waited until he arrived in Beijing to officially start his work and connect with these foreigners, and the foreigners sent letters to Nanyang, the grain and iron from Nanyang would probably have to wait until May or June before they could set sail north.
Just as he was thinking about it, Dinesh Joao also poured water for himself and Ryan Hobbs.

"Eunuch Gao." Dinesh Joao called softly, pulling Gao Shiming out of his thoughts.

"Sir, what can I do for you?" Gao Shiming turned his attention to Dinesh Joao in a blink of an eye. Dinesh Joao said, "The old shopkeeper said that your bank has a bill exchange business. We would like to learn more about it."

Gao Shiming thought for a moment and replied, "Our bank's bill exchange business is basically the same as other bill exchanges. We issue bills upon seeing silver, and we redeem bills for silver upon seeing silver. The difference is that deposits are free, but when redeeming silver, a handling fee is charged based on the distance. If you redeem a local bill locally, there's no handling fee."

"Please speak slower!" Gao Shiming spoke as fast as a curtain call, and Dinesh Joao couldn't hear him clearly. After a while, he couldn't help but interrupt.

Gao Shiming was stunned when he heard this. He slowed down his speech again, repeated what he had said before, and continued, "So-called local notes are notes issued in a certain city. For example, there is no handling fee for redeeming notes between the four banks in Beijing. However, once you leave Beijing, a corresponding redemption fee will be charged based on the distance between the deposit and redemption branches. After all, silver is not a silver note, so transporting it is still very laborious."

At this point, Gao Shiming stood up, walked over to a wardrobe, pulled out the upper right drawer, and took out two forms, handing them to Dinesh Joao and Ryan Hobbs. "The specific costs are on this receipt."

Dinesh Joao took a look and discovered that while the list was detailed, even annotated with Arabic numerals, it contained only a few entries, with only a handful of branches listed. "Excuse me, Eunuch Gao, aren't there any sub-comma for places like Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Nanjing?"

"Not yet," Gao Shiming said. "The Sun Moon Bank is a newly established government agency, and its branches and sub-branches haven't been rolled out nationwide yet. But there are plans, and the branches listed in this table are just the first batch."

"I see." Dinesh Joao nodded. Although there were only four banks in Beijing, three in Liaodong, and the Tianjin branch, it was enough for them for the time being.

Dinesh Joao put down the form and looked up at Gao Shiming. "Eunuch Gao, we want to store the cash with you."

"Okay." Gao Shiming asked, "How much do you plan to save?"

"One hundred thousand Spanish silver dollars." Dinesh Joao said with a smile.

"How much? One hundred thousand?" Even Gao Shiming was a little shocked by the number.

"Yes." Dinesh Joao said proudly, "The money is on our ship. It can be shipped to the warehouse at any time."

After reaching a preliminary agreement with the Ministry of Revenue, led by Li Ruhua, Dinesh João asked Tang Ruowang to request a document from the imperial court. This document allowed a Western ship to travel north from Hangzhou to the capital via the canal route. The ship, using this document, carried only one item: Spanish silver, known as "Buddha's Head Silver." This silver contained both funds for the delegation's activities and payments for goods used to test the waters.

The silver ship arrived in Beijing earlier this year and has been docked at the Caoyun Wharf outside Dongbianmen since then. During the lockdown, merchants feared the imperial court would seize the silver. However, the court did seize the ship, but not the silver. After the lockdown was lifted, the ship and silver were returned to the sailors.

Gao Shiming quickly regained his composure. He took out a standard one-liang Taichang silver piece from his purse and showed it to Dinesh Joao with the words engraved on it.

"All the silver in our bank's inventory are official ingots with a purity of 95% cast by the Inner Court Silver Bureau. No matter what purity of silver you deposit in the warehouse, you will also use such silver ingots when you cash it out in the future. Therefore, when our bank collects cash, we must check the purity, convert it according to the official purity, and then issue silver notes according to the weight." After saying this, Gao Shiming simply handed the silver to Dinesh Joao.

Dinesh Joao took the silver and examined it carefully, then asked, "Excuse me, how much is the fire consumption?"

Remelting silver inevitably wastes precious metals, and the labor and food expenses of the silversmiths who mint official silver are also necessary expenses. These expenses must be offset by providing silver workers. Dinesh João knew that for the Ming government, no matter how beautifully and exquisitely minted the Spanish Eagle Dollar was, it was still scrap silver that needed to be melted down. Since banks were also government offices, they inevitably charged a fire consumption fee. Even those private banks that didn't explicitly charge a fire consumption fee would include this fee in storage fees or other expenses when collecting receipts.

Gao Shiming didn't expect this foreigner to be so knowledgeable, so he further explained: "It's priced according to the converted silver, one tael for one qian. Of course, if you store the official silver directly, then there is no need for conversion, and no need to pay the fire consumption."

"Acceptable." Dinesh Joao was more than acceptable. He felt that this "tax rate" was shockingly favorable.

Currently, there's no unified nationwide huohao tax. Instead, local governments, which collect silver, impose an illegal tax on the public at a rate of their own choosing. This tax isn't remitted to the central government, but rather retained by local officials, using a portion to maintain basic government operations and the rest to enrich themselves. One liang for one qian, or 10%, is the lowest huohao tax rate Dinesh João, a foreign merchant, has learned of.

"That's settled then." Gao Shiming said.

Dinesh Joao suggested, "Now, to the dock?"

At this time, Gao Shiming's heart was full of joy.

Not only had he finalized a large real estate transaction today, securing his largest deposit yet and for a long time to come, but he had also received a piece of news that would make him famous with his master, the Emperor. Gao Shiming had even begun to imagine the Emperor summoning him to the Qianqing Palace to report on matters and ultimately appointing him to a high-ranking position.

He knew full well that Hui Jingao, a lifelong veteran, had been able to quickly rise to the position of head of the Beijing branch simply because he had been the first to make a name for himself. Now that he was about to make a big name for himself, how could he not be happy?

But Gao Shiming was happy. After all, he had been working steadily in the Imperial Household Department for decades, and he still had the basic shrewdness. Therefore, he still had that nonchalant smile on his face. "No hurry, it's getting late. Let's talk about it tomorrow. I can also prepare the ox cart."

Ryan Hobbs glanced out the window at the sky. Seeing that it was already dawn, he wanted to warn them, but Dinesh Joao stopped him again. "Thank you."

(End of this chapter)