I started as a concubine, and I made the crown prince cry with my delicious food.

The decree was issued, but new problems soon presented themselves to Xiao Jingshi.

--money.

Establishing a trading city requires building city walls, constructing houses, paving roads, recruiting merchants, and dispatching troops... each and every one of these requires a massive amount of silver.

But now the national treasury is so empty that rats could run through it.

The small amount of property confiscated from the Zhang family was mostly used to cover previous military deficits and to compensate the dead and wounded soldiers; what remained was simply a drop in the ocean.

That night, Xiao Jingshi looked at the budget memorial submitted by the Ministry of Revenue, his brows furrowing into a knot.

"...Preliminary estimates suggest that establishing Yong'an City will require at least three million taels of silver. And that's just the initial investment." He put the memorial aside and wearily rubbed his temples. "But right now, the national treasury doesn't even have three hundred thousand taels of silver available for use."

Ye An'an was sitting to the side, coaxing her daughter who had just finished nursing in her arms while flipping through an account book. It contained the monthly revenue of "Liren Pavilion" and "Wenxianglai," showing that business was still booming and profits were substantial.

"How about... I take this money and use it first?" She raised her head and said softly, "I have about five or six hundred thousand taels of silver here, if I scrape it together."

Xiao Jingshi chuckled and shook his head, taking her hand: "That little bit of money of yours is your private savings, and it's also for our children. How could I possibly touch it? Besides, five or six hundred thousand taels is just a drop in the ocean."

"What should we do? We can't just let the plan come to a standstill, can we?" Ye An'an was also worried.

Xiao Jingshi sighed: "I have already asked the Ministry of Revenue to come up with a solution. It's nothing more than raising taxes or 'borrowing' from those powerful families. But there's no room left to raise taxes, and the people are already under an unbearable burden. Borrowing money from those tightwads is even more difficult than climbing to heaven."

He knew that those old nobles would love to see his plan fail because of a lack of funds.

As Ye An'an listened, she held the child, gently rocking him as she fell into deep thought.

Borrow money...

Yes, you can borrow money.

Why borrow from those unwilling aristocratic families? The world is so big, and there are so many rich people, why not borrow from everyone in the world?

A bolder, more modern financial concept gradually took shape in her mind.

"Jing Shi," she suddenly spoke, her eyes shining with astonishing brilliance, "I have a way to not only solve this urgent problem of three million taels of silver, but also ensure that our national treasury will never be short of money again!"

"Oh?" Xiao Jingshi became interested. "Tell me about it."

"We can open a 'money exchange,' one that belongs only to our royal family, the largest and most authoritative money exchange in the entire world!" Ye An'an spoke quickly, clearly excited. "We can name it the 'Royal Bank of Daliang'!"

"Bank?" Xiao Jingshi was unfamiliar with this new word.

"Yes! A bank!" Ye An'an explained, "What does this bank do? Simply put, it has two functions. First, it's for depositing money. People all over the world, whether they are high-ranking officials or ordinary people, can deposit their idle money in our bank. We guarantee the absolute safety of their money, and we even give them 'interest'!"

"Interest?"

"That is to say, if he deposits one hundred taels of silver for a year, when the term expires, we will give him one hundred and five taels! The extra five taels are the benefit we give him."

Xiao Jingshi's eyes widened in astonishment.

Is there really such a good thing? Not only is my money safe with you, but I can also have extra money appear out of nowhere?

"Then...then aren't we at a loss?" he asked the most crucial question.

"Of course it's profitable! This brings us to the second function of a bank—lending!" Ye An'an laughed. "We pool everyone's deposits together, creating a huge sum of money. Then, we can lend this money to those who need it, such as merchants who want to engage in long-distance trade or artisans who want to open workshops. Of course, we'll charge them interest, and even higher interest rates! For example, if they borrow one hundred taels, they'll have to repay one hundred and ten taels after a year!"

"Look, we take money from others and pay 5% interest. We lend money to others and charge 10% interest. The difference between these two rates is all the money our bank makes, isn't it?"

Xiao Jingshi was completely shocked by this unprecedented model.

Accepting deposits, issuing loans, earning interest rate spreads...

This...this is practically a treasure trove that can print money out of thin air!

"Just how many more of these outlandish ideas are hidden in your head?" He looked at his empress as if she were a monster.

"This is just the first step." Seeing that he had understood, Ye An'an then presented the more core plan.

"Establishing a bank takes time and requires the trust of depositors. A distant solution cannot quench an immediate thirst. For now, we can use this approach of establishing a bank to address the immediate shortfall of three million taels."

"How so?"

"We can issue 'national bonds'!" Ye An'an said. "You can think of it as the imperial court, that is, you, the emperor, personally borrowing money from all the people in the world. We will use the national strength of the Great Liang Dynasty and your reputation as the emperor as collateral to issue a certificate called 'Patriotic Construction Bonds'."

"We tell the people that the imperial court is building Yong'an City to protect the country and to ensure everyone has a better life. However, the national treasury is short of funds, so we hope everyone will contribute money or labor. Anyone who buys these 'bonds' will be a meritorious contributor to the country. After one year, if Yong'an City's trade is profitable, the imperial court will repay double the principal with interest!"

"Double?!" Xiao Jingshi gasped. "That interest rate is outrageous!"

"High interest rates are the key!" Ye An'an waved her hand, displaying great confidence. "What we need now is speed! We need confidence! Only high interest rates can attract everyone to bring out their hard-earned money! Think about it, those merchants, and those small landowners with some spare cash, they're just sitting there doing nothing. Now that there's such a sure-fire way to make money, and they can even gain a 'patriotic' reputation, wouldn't they rush to buy it?"

"As long as we can raise these three million taels of silver as quickly as possible and build Yong'an City, with the profits from border trade, we can easily repay the debt, even at three times the interest, let alone double it!"

Xiao Jingshi was completely speechless.

He looked at his empress, his heart churning with turmoil.

Open a bank and gather wealth from all over the world.

Issuing government bonds will solve the immediate crisis.

Either of these two moves would have been enough to change the fate of the Great Liang Dynasty. Yet his empress was able to come up with them so casually, while soothing the child.

He stood up and hugged her and the child tightly.

"An'an, having you is my good fortune, and even more so the good fortune of the Great Liang," he said sincerely.

He knew that a new era, belonging to him and to her, was about to begin.

He immediately made a decision and summoned several of his most trusted ministers, including the newly appointed Minister of Revenue and the imperial merchant Shen Wansan, to a secret meeting in the Imperial Study that very night.

When he announced his ideas for the "Royal Bank" and "Patriotic Bonds," the ministers below all wore the same look of utter disbelief as he had before.