Xiong Rulin calmly wiped the saliva splashed on his face. From the start of the establishment of the Ministry of Revenue Bank, he knew that he would stand opposite to the gentry and most officials. However, whether it was to serve the Lord's kindness or to consider the people, he believed that he did nothing wrong. Even so, why should he be guilty?

This is on the steps outside the palace. These officials stopped Xiong Rulin but couldn't swallow the tone in their hearts. They wanted to curse a few words to relieve their hatred, but they didn't dare to take it seriously. Seeing Xiong Rulin's calm look, several officials were stunned and did not dare to insult him anymore, and watched Xiong Rulin leave.

As the court meeting ended and after the officials returned home, the news that the Ministry of Revenue was about to open a bank spread throughout the city as quickly as the feet grew, and the fast horses at each city gate even sent away batches. Within a few days, I am afraid the whole world will know.

The term bank was first recorded in the second year of Jiayou in Song Dynasty (1057), when Cai Xiang was in charge of Fuzhou, and wrote "Sixteen Things to Give the People". Article 6 of which was used to squeeze the bank and sell many lawsuits. It can be imagined that banks should have appeared long before this. However, banks at that time were actually just gold and silver shops, even money shops. Its main business was to create gold and silver jewelry, and occasionally they also undertake the exchange of gold, silver and copper coins to earn the difference.

People don’t know what a bank is, but when it comes to money shops, everyone has a lot of clarity. Money shops only appear behind gold and silver shops, and more or less have some functions of the bank. In addition to being able to lend, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, money shops were already very developed, and almost larger cities had money shops. However, because the money shops were mostly loan sharks, the reputation of money shops was not very good among the people.

The next day, the memorial began to fly into the palace like snowflakes. Wang Fu didn't need to read it, so he knew that most of them must have opposed the opening of a bank in the Ministry of Revenue. He was afraid that the opposition to the bank's gold and silver coins was even more intense. Wang Fu looked over it roughly. As expected, Wang Fu was still interested in reading it at first to see what reasons the officials would object. However, after reading more than a dozen articles, Wang Fu lost interest. Most of these memorials were repeated in the old tune, which simply emphasized that banks compete for profit with the people, and their reputation as the court was hindered.

Competing for profit with the people is purely nonsense, but it is possible to have reputations. After all, banks have not been operated, and the people do not know the difference between banks and money houses. Most people in the private sector are forced to lose their families by usury in the money house, and it is not surprising that the court has doubts about the government's banking.

After leaving a memorial at hand, Wang Fu stretched. It was ten days before the last court meeting. Almost all ministers in the court wrote memorials into the palace. Some local officials who were close to Nanjing also began to send memorials in. However, most memorials were innovating, and they were clichés, and no one mentioned them in the memorials. It seemed that they had no concern for the huge welfare that suddenly disappeared.

"Tian Cheng."

"What is the emperor's order?" Leave the palace."

"Emperor. Are you going to the Military Weapon Bureau or the Yulin Guard Barracks this time?" Tian Cheng asked. These were the two places the emperor often went to after leaving the palace.

Wang Fu shook his head: "I don't go anywhere in these two places. I'm going to a restaurant and a teahouse today."

"Yes, I will go down to prepare immediately." Tian Cheng scratched his head while walking. Now there was a quarrel outside about the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue and Bank. Except for a few people, officials opposed it in unison. The memorials in the palace were piled up like mountains. Why did the emperor have the leisure to go to the restaurant and teahouse?

But I don’t understand. He can’t understand where the emperor is going. He can only take care of the land. Just serve him with all his heart. After half an hour, Wang Fu, Tian Cheng and Ma Bingjie had already appeared at the entrance of Taibai Restaurant in the capital. Behind them, more than twenty guards were hanging one after another.

Although he was wearing plain clothes, Wang Fu had no need to compromise himself. The lichen materials used were all good materials. When a waiter saw that the three of them were very well-dressed, he quickly greeted them: "Masters, please, please, please, please."

Taibai Restaurant is not the best restaurant in Beijing. It can only be considered medium. When you walk into the restaurant, a noisy sound comes. There are more than twenty tables in the restaurant lobby. Most of them are full. Obviously, the business in this restaurant is not bad. Tian Cheng couldn't help but frown when he heard various sounds.

"Three Masters. There is a private room upstairs. I wonder if the three Masters need it?"

"No need, Wang Fu spoke downstairs.

"Yes, three masters, please come here." The pawn looked vicious. He had already seen that Wang Fu was the one who was in charge. He heard Wang Fu's words and led Wang Fu and his party to an empty table and said, "Three guests, what are you going to come?"

"Stop talking nonsense, just make a few of the best dishes in your store, and bring a pot of the best wine." Tian Jian said on the side.

"Okay, wait a moment, the wine and food will arrive soon."

Looking at Tian Cheng, Ma Bingjie and the others were still standing, and Wang Fu frowned slightly: "You guys sit down too."

"Emperor...Master, we..." Both of them had some issues.

Wang Fu glared at him: "I told you to sit down."

The two of them sat down, but ** still didn't dare to confirm. They sat halfway. After Wang Fu came in, twenty or thirty strong men came in one after another and occupied several empty tables beside Wang Fu. Wang Fu frowned and gave Ma Bingjie a wink: "Go and ask them to sit farther."

Ma Bingjie quickly made a few gestures, and the group of men who had just sat down had to move their seats again and sit farther away.

Wang Fu came out this time to hear how the people reacted to the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue Bank. Of course, he did not want the guards to occupy the place around him. Perhaps the people were really concerned about the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue Bank. A table not far from Wang Fu was talking about the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue Bank. He was "Everyone, do you know why the emperor set up the Ministry of Revenue Bank?"

There were five people sitting on this table, three of whom were middle-aged people for about forty years, two young people who were only about twenty years old, three middle-aged people were all wearing brocade clothes, except for one thin, both of them looked a little big belly, and two young people were all wearing ordinary green clothes. These five people looked like a businessman, and the two young people should be their children and nephews.

"Why?" When the middle-aged man asked, the two young men couldn't hold back and asked hurriedly.

The middle-aged man looked around and lowered his voice: "I guess, the court must be short of money and wants to issue paper money."

"Brother Chang, is there any information about where you came from?" The other two middle-aged men also became nervous.

Brother Chang shook his head: "This is just what I guess. I am the same as two of you, and I don't know the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, so how can I know the exact situation?"

"Brother Chang, you scared us both to death. If this is the case, we might as well take off our business early and go back to the countryside to buy a few acres of thin land to farm for a living."

The paper banknotes they mentioned are actually called Daming Baochao. Daming Baochao was once passed from the early to the middle of the Ming Dynasty. The denomination amount ranged from 100 to 6 consistently divided into six types, and were supervised by the Ministry of Revenue. This kind of paper banknote should be said to be very successful at the beginning and relies on the national and local power to pass through the country. The printing and issuance of Baochao has always been concentrated in the central government, without boundaries, without limiting the region and circulation time.

If this situation continues, it is very likely that the paper money will eventually replace the circulation of gold and silver. By Chongzhen, the finances will not be exhausted. Perhaps because of his origin in a peasant land, Zhu Yuanzhang's vision seemed too narrow. As soon as the Daming Baochao was issued, two congenital loopholes were created, making the Baochao eventually the fate of becoming waste paper.

The first is that there is no issuance limit and no reserves are issued. It is entirely the imperial court issued as much as it wants. Over time, it will inevitably lead to inflation. Baochao is becoming less and less valuable. In the eighth year of Hongwu, when Baochao was issued, Yiguanbaobao could be exchanged for one tael of silver. By the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Yiguanbaobao was only worth seven cents and two in five years, but it fell by 30%.

The second loophole is that the court only issues, does not recycle or recycles it less. The court uses treasure banknotes to pay salaries and military salaries, collects materials and gold, silver and wealth from the people, collects rent and taxes but only collects a small amount of new banknotes or simply does not collect money. This practice is nothing different from the naked plunder. In order to promote treasure banknotes, the court has implemented the household registration banknote salt method and various methods of door-stall courses. The household registration banknote salt method is to distribute one pound of salt for each household, and collects banknotes. The door-stall course is that shop merchants use banknotes to pay for door-stall courses.

In addition to these two loopholes, the method of inverting the banknotes has accelerated the depreciation of the Baochao. The so-called method of inverting the banknotes is that although local governments can use warehouses to exchange for crumbling banknotes, it stipulates that all the face value of the bill and those that can be identified can continue to be used. Prices are not allowed to be raised for those who buy goods with old banknotes. In fact, when the imperial court collects taxes, it only collects a small amount of new banknotes, and does not collect old banknotes at all. The people can only reduce the price of old banknotes between old banknotes.

However, even though the loophole is so serious, the use of the Daming Baochao continued for hundreds of years. It was not until the Hongzhi period (1488-1505) that the Baochao was completely meaningless. Its value had fallen below the cost of issuance. The people only traded with silver and copper coins, and no one was willing to use Baochao. Baochao could only withdraw from the stage of currency in disgrace.

If the court really wanted to issue paper money again, as before, the most worried thing was naturally the merchants. Once the paper money was received, they would have to worry about the danger of depreciation. I don’t know how many merchants had forced their families to destroy them.

Wang Fu knew nothing about the Daming Baochao. He was stunned when he heard the conversation of several people. He thought that the bank could issue banknotes in the future, Huitong Tianxia, ​​and never thought about issuing banknotes now. Why are these people even more able to think about it than him and think that the court would issue banknotes. Wang Fu whispered to Tian Cheng: "Please invite the person named Chang over, I want to ask what's going on with the banknotes?"
Chapter completed!