Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 253: Old Xier is poor
"Your Highness Cao Sanxi pays homage to the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Dai."
"Haha, President Cao, you don't have to be so polite. Alas, we in Shanxi are poor, and the Shanxi people suffer. Now that President Cao, who is in charge of the world's treasury, has returned home in glory, you must consider your hometown and benefit us Shanxi people."
"Your Highness, you are too kind. I serve the regent, which means I serve the Ming Dynasty. Shanxi is a part of the Ming Dynasty, so it is natural for me to serve Shanxi."
After the two sides finished exchanging wits, the next step was naturally for officials of all levels to come up one by one to greet and sing in response. After all these procedures were completed, Cao Sanxi entered Taiyuan City under the escort of Li Rubai's cavalry, found a larger hall in the office of the Taiyuan prefect, and began to argue with the local tyrants in Shanxi.
At such occasions, except for the governor of Shanxi, the prefect of Taiyuan and the magistrate of Yangqu who had to be present because they were the host, the rest of the royal family and officials who adhered to the principle of "a gentleman does not talk about profit" basically did not attend. However, without exception, they all sent capable spokespersons to attend the meeting. For example, the princes of Jin and Dai even sent their chief officials to sit in the first row of the venue.
As for the four major families mentioned earlier, all the heads of the families attended the meeting - not because they wanted to, but because Cao Sanxi specifically requested it.
"Oh, I can finally speak our Shanxi dialect." Sitting on the main seat, Cao Sanxi said with a smile: "Speaking of which, thanks to His Royal Highness the Regent for attaching importance to this Ming Royal Bank, the grade is set as the third grade, so I can call myself 'this official' here. But you all know that I, Cao Sanxi, was just a tofu seller before. In my heart, I feel that it is a shame to sit below me."
"I dare not. President Cao is too kind. We absolutely do not have such thoughts."
"Hahaha, it's just a joke. I don't care what you think , but we must do what the Regent has told us to do."
"President Cao, please give us your instructions."
"According to the Regent's decree, this year, Shanxi will establish the Taiyuan branch of the Ming Royal Bank. For the venue and other matters, we will need the strong assistance of the Shanxi Provincial Administration, Taiyuan Prefecture, and Yangqu County."
"I will follow your instructions and ask the president to set the standards. I will complete the land acquisition and demolition work as soon as possible according to the bank's needs."
"Okay, thank you all. Then I will move on to the second point. Since the Ming Dynasty began to implement the new currency system last year, the two capitals and four provinces that have opened banks have issued a total of nearly 50 million taels of silver worth of new currency. Among them, 20 million taels are silver prepared in advance by the state, and nearly 30 million are gold and silver ingots deposited by the private sector into the banks. The support of the people in the two capitals and four provinces for the new national policy really makes the emperor and the regent feel very relieved."
As soon as Cao Sanxi said this, Wang Zhizhen, the least cunning of the four major families, unconsciously twitched the corners of his mouth and rolled his eyes.
To be honest, when the imperial court issued the order to use the new currency last year, many dignitaries and wealthy merchants in the country were just watching the show: the crown prince had been so powerful for so many years, and finally he was going to fall. Although these gold and silver coins are indeed more reassuring than the treasure notes of the Ming Dynasty, the silver content of your silver dollar is less than 90% of one tael of silver! The people of the Ming Dynasty are not stupid, how could they use the new currency?
But who would have thought that the overall performance of this new currency in the two capitals and four provinces where it was first implemented was very good!
Needless to say, Beijing and Nanjing are the imperial capital and the place with the strongest national power. The latter is where Zhu Youdong really started his career, and the emperor's popularity is extremely high. Guangzhou's maritime trade and smuggling are extremely developed, and the Spanish double column has long been widely used, so the acceptance of silver coins is very smooth. Sichuan people in Chengdu are quite flexible, and as the place where the world's first paper currency was born, Sichuan people prefer silver coins with clear currency values rather than carrying scales with them. As for Shaanxi, its economic strength is too weak to make any waves.
In short, during the introduction of the new currency last year, there was only one provincial government that faced a real tough battle: Huguang.
As an economic powerhouse of the time, the local tyrants in Huguang did organize to block the new currency. But when Zhu Youdong and Cao Sanxi mobilized the whole country to attack them, Huguang finally withered.
Although the economic war here did not involve the flashing of swords and the shadow of swords, it was certainly thrilling. However, the six major daily newspapers reflected that the people of the two capitals and four provinces firmly supported the bank to issue new currency and so on...
These words may be used to deceive common people, but how could someone of Wang Zhizhen's level believe them?
"Everyone, I'm telling you the truth. After a year of partial issuance of the new currency, we have deeply felt that the transaction demand of the people in our Ming Dynasty is huge. Whether it is the 20 million taels of silver prepared by the court in the past, or the 30 million taels of silver obtained from private deposits and loans later, even in the two capitals and four provinces, it cannot be guaranteed that all transactions can be carried out with the new currency. Now, His Royal Highness the Regent requires all the remaining seven provinces of our Ming Dynasty to open branches and use the new currency. The silver reserves are obviously insufficient."
"Hehe..." The old men all smiled faintly.
Cao Sanxi was not annoyed and continued, "We in Shanxi have always been loyal citizens of the court and are the most supportive of His Majesty the Regent. Therefore, I have been entrusted by His Majesty the Regent to come here to beg for alms. His Majesty's intention is to ask all the dignitaries, gentry and wealthy merchants in Shanxi to lend 20 million taels of silver to the bank first, so that the bank can have the raw materials to process them into silver dollars and silver dimes."
The traditional settlements of the Han nationality are more suitable for farming. To be suitable for farming, the terrain must be flat and there must be few volcanoes and earthquakes. Then, naturally, the country established on this land is generally a country lacking precious metals.
When new currency was issued, gold was fine, after all, it was valuable and rarely used in actual transactions. As for copper coins, the Ming Dynasty had issued copper coins for more than 200 years, and the stock was basically sufficient. Only silver, even though Zhu Youdong kept recasting the silver earned from overseas trade into new currency and putting it on the market, still felt a shortage of currency.
In this process, a very important part is that the Chinese have a very high habit of storage, and they like to keep it at home! Many dignitaries and even ordinary people, after receiving silver dollars, often save them, so that this part of the silver dollars no longer enters the market circulation.
Last year, during the promotion of the new currency in Huguang, the wealthy merchants in Huguang united and deliberately stored a large amount of silver dollars, causing a shortage of silver and new currency in Huguang. Zhu Youdong was forced to borrow 5 million taels of silver from Wanli urgently, and from his mother in Ciqing Palace, he invested all the remaining silver of about 1.2 million taels in Huguang, and only then did he survive.
But now, to start seven new branches, the money is really not enough.
But it doesn’t matter, I just made it clear that it’s not enough.
"President Cao, this won't work . Shanxi is a land of mountains and plains. The land is barren and the output is very low. Shanxi is a poor province. Twenty million? If it's twenty thousand taels, we can probably do it for Your Highness even if we sell everything we have."
"Yes, yes, President Cao, my Jin Palace has not received the full prince's salary for nearly a hundred years. The whole palace is really in trouble. But my Jin vassal is the second vassal of the Ming Dynasty after the Qin vassal next door. When the country is in trouble, we, as members of the royal family, must give our all. How about this, as the chief historian of the palace, I will express my opinion on behalf of my prince. The Jin Palace will provide 100 taels of silver to the future Shanxi branch."
"Hahahaha~~" When the people in Prince Jin's mansion said this, they all laughed happily: Prince Jin had expressed his opinion and set a limit of 100 taels. Everyone had an idea of what to do next.
Cao Sanxi's face did not waver at all in the face of such a scene: "Haha, is this what the Jin Palace means? What about the Dai Palace?"
"Hehe, we are all princes, so how can we not share the worries of the court? Although our Dai Palace has not received the full salary of a prince for many years. But since the Jin Palace is so noble, our Dai Palace is not willing to lag behind. One hundred taels."
"What about you guys?"
"Oh, President Cao, we have said it long ago that Shanxi is a poor province and we are also short of money. Let's put it this way. If the court is in trouble, we, as good citizens, will definitely support it. My Yang family will not borrow money, but donate, donate fifty taels..."
