My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 245

In the household department, Xia Yuanji was calculating the grain sent from the south.

When the capital was moved to Beijing, not only did Zhu Di and the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs come, but also an army of 10,000+. After all, Beijing is located on the frontier, so it definitely needs the protection of the army, and these troops eat horse chews, and the money and food they consume every day also need to be raised by the Ministry of Households.

"The son is really a genius. He has just taken over Shipping, and he has shown such a big advantage!"

Looking at the grain account book in his hand, Xia Yuanji couldn't help being very surprised.

There are only two routes for grain from the south, one is water transport, and the other is sea transport.

It wasn't that there was no sea transportation in the past, but sea transportation caused many problems due to various reasons, so after the canal was opened, the sea transportation was simply stopped. Xia Yuanji also agreed very much at that time.

But he didn't expect that Xia Yuanji would find out that his previous impression of shipping had been completely overturned just now when shipping was started. Not only was the volume of shipping large, but the speed was also fast, and the loss on the way was not much, except for one person who had a relatively high risk at sea. In addition to its shortcomings, it is better than water transport in almost every way.

"Sea transportation is abolished, there must be a big problem, and even His Majesty may be deceived!"

Xia Yuanji frowned suddenly, and whispered to himself.

Xia Yuanji has been in charge of the household department for many years, and has seen too many intrigues in the officialdom. Sometimes a matter that benefits the country and the people may not be implemented. On the contrary, some policies that harm the people are put on a high-sounding name and implemented smoothly. go down.

"Dong Dong~"

Suddenly someone knocked on the door, and then a small official pushed the door in and said, "Report to Shangshu, the son of the King of Han came to visit, saying that it was His Majesty's order!"

"Come in quickly!"

Xia Yuanji immediately stood up when he heard this, and went out to greet him in person.

Soon after seeing Zhu Zhanhe coming over, seeing Xia Yuanji also approached with a smile and saluted, "I'm bothering Xia Shangshu with his official duties."

"Your Majesty, you are welcome, let's go into the room and discuss in detail!"

Xia Yuanji was also very polite, he didn't know why Zhu Di asked Zhu Zhanhe to come to him, but thinking about it, it would definitely not be a trivial matter.

So the two entered the office, Xia Yuanji asked for tea, and the two sat facing each other.

"Xia Shangshu, I came to you today to talk to you about the establishment of a bank..."

Zhu Zhanhe talked about some of his ideas about the bank. Although there were money houses in this era, and silver was not the legal currency of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zhanhe was used to it and still felt that the name of the bank was easy to pronounce.

Xia Yuanji didn't understand what a bank was at first?But following Zhu Zhanhe's narration, he finally understood that the so-called banks are actually equivalent to government-run banks, but with more businesses.

When they learned that it was just a bank, Xia Yuanji and Zhu Di had similar reactions, feeling that Zhu Zhanhe was making a fuss over a molehill.

But following Zhu Zhanhe's narration, Xia Yuanji gradually discovered that this government-run bank was very useful, whether it was for the people, the merchants or the court, it seemed to have a great role in promoting it.

"Xia Shangshu, please imagine, if there were such banks in every city in Ming Dynasty, no matter where you deposit money from, you can withdraw money from any place, and these banks can also absorb people's money. The remaining money, when the court wants to use the money, it will be much more convenient!"

Zhu Zhanhe finally described to Xia Yuanji some scenes after the bank network was rolled out.

"The government-run bank... No, it should be called a bank. Will it be said that it is competing for the interests of the people? After all, the bank's role in collecting money is too obvious, and it is easy to be criticized."

At this moment, Xia Yuanji showed a look of hesitation.

He was frightened by the scene Zhu Zhanhe described. He thought it was just a government-run bank, but he didn't expect Zhu Zhanhe's scheme to be so big.

"It's not a big deal. If Xia Shangshu is willing, you can even hand over the right to issue banknotes to the bank!"

Zhu Zhanhe talked about the rise, and he didn’t finish talking about the role of commercial banks. He even talked about the role of the central bank.

"Let the bank issue treasure notes? This is not acceptable!"

Xia Yuanji was taken aback when he heard the words. Baochao is the most important tool for the imperial court to collect money, and it is nominally under Zhu Di's direct control. Of course, the Ministry of Household Affairs can also take care of part of it.

"Xia Shangshu, you are good at financial management, I have a question I've always wanted to ask you."

Zhu Zhanhe suddenly showed a serious expression, paused before speaking.

"Now that the imperial court issues precious banknotes, they only issue them and don't accept them. Do you think this will really last for a long time?"

As soon as this question came up, Xia Yuanji also showed a look of silence. He is good at financial management, so of course he can't be a fool. He also knows the consequences of the policy of only issuing treasure notes but not accepting them. The continuous depreciation of treasure notes is one of them. .

"Two years ago, if the ten-peg banknotes were exchanged for copper coins, they could only be exchanged for five pennies at most, but now I'm afraid they can't even be exchanged for four pennies. If this continues to be issued, sooner or later the treasure banknotes will become useless. Paper!"

Seeing that Xia Yuanji didn't speak, Zhu Zhanhe directly stated the words clearly.

In fact, the Daming banknotes were indeed as he said. During the Hongzhi period, almost no one used the banknotes, and only silver or copper coins were used for folk transactions, or they were bartered directly.

"Of course I know that it is not a long-term strategy to only issue treasure notes but not accept them, but the court needs money, and I am not a god, so it is impossible to conjure money out of thin air, so I can only use this method of drinking poison to quench my thirst."

Xia Yuanji finally stopped being silent, he let out a long sigh and said.

"But Xia Shangshu, have you ever thought about it? The consequences of doing this are not only the depreciation of the treasure, but the most important thing is that the court's credibility is being lost a little bit. After all, the people are not stupid, watching the court use this method to plunder their wealth. , will they still have any good feelings for the imperial court?"

Zhu Zhanhe spoke again earnestly.

In fact, he wanted to say these words a long time ago, but he never found the opportunity. Today, he simply spit out the matter of the bank.

"Of course I know this, but Your Majesty wants to conquer the north, build the city of Beijing, and sail to the west. All of these need money. What can I do?"

At this time Xia Yuanji seemed to be very annoyed as well.

In fact, he is also very helpless. Zhu Di has too many things to do, and he asks him for money everywhere. As he said, he is not a god, and it is impossible to conjure money out of thin air.

"The city of Beijing has basically been repaired. In addition, the merchant fleet is also brought to the west. In the future, it will not spend the money of the court, but will make money for the court. As for the Northern Expedition..."

Zhu Zhanhe paused at this point, and then spoke.

"According to my estimation, Grandpa Huang may not go to the north again in recent years, and even if he uses troops, the scale will not be too large, so almost all the expenses in these three aspects can be saved."

Hearing Zhu Zhanhe's analysis, Xia Yuanji was silent again. He had actually thought about it, but it is so convenient to make money with treasure notes, just like a drug addict who has become addicted to treasure notes. It is not easy to quit.

(End of this chapter)