Chapter 133: The Imperial Bank

After entering the eighth month, Beijing grew suddenly sweltering.

The blinding sunlight spilled down lavishly, without reservation. The birch trees by the roadside had their leaves withered by the sun, drooping powerlessly; deep in the woods, the cicadas chirped incessantly.

The stray dogs by the street lay on the ground, panting with their tongues out, looking pitifully at the hurried passersby.

The men wore short jackets, and even the women wore only small shirts with wide sleeves that exposed their arms; the children dared not run wild, hiding in the shade, greedily absorbing the rare coolness.

At noon that day, a carriage slowly traversed the scorching long street, heading straight north toward the Forbidden City.

Arriving before the Forbidden Gate, the carriage stopped, and Zhang Yunxiu stepped out wearing a bean-green ramie shirt.

He reached out to shield himself from the scorching sun, then lifted his robe and walked toward the magnificent Forbidden City.

This was also his first time coming to the Forbidden City since being grounded by Zhang Juzheng.

Ever since he returned from Liaodong that day, he had been beaten by Zhang Juzheng and had to lie in bed for a month to recover.

Afterward, he was grounded for another three months, and only today could he be considered released.

Breathing in the air of freedom and feeling the heat on his face, Zhang Yunxiu finally realized the value of freedom.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yunxiu did not stop his pace and arrived at the Qianqing Palace in one go.

Before entering, he saw from afar that Wei Qing was waiting outside anxiously. He straightened his clothes, composed his expression, and walked up with a smile: "Eunuch Wei, you are a high-ranking official of the inner court, waiting for me here like this—I am afraid I cannot bear it."

Hearing the voice, Wei Qing turned his head abruptly and replied with a fawning smile: "Oh, Director Zhang, for you to say that to me means you don't treat me as one of your own; you're being too formal."

Zhang Yunxiu shook his head with a smile and pulled Wei Qing to walk inside.

"Hey, you can't go in yet." Wei Qing smiled and blocked Zhang Yunxiu's path.

"Why? Wasn't I summoned by the Emperor?" Zhang Yunxiu was completely confused.

"Yes, but the Emperor hasn't woken up yet."

"Still... hasn't woken up?" Zhang Yunxiu looked stunned. He looked up at the sun that had already moved past the zenith and asked, "What did the Emperor do last night that he hasn't gotten up yet?"

"What else could he be doing? Don't you men all like doing that sort of thing?" Wei Qing grinned, and a look of unspeakable meaning suddenly appeared on his fair cheeks.

This guy is quite wild.

Zhang Yunxiu knew it well, shook his head, and stood respectfully outside the palace gate.

He didn't know how much time had passed when a Little Yellow Gate walked out quickly from inside, shouting in a shrill voice: "Eunuch Wei, Director Zhang, the Emperor is up; he summons you to enter."

"Please, Director Zhang." Wei Qing smiled and gestured to the side.

"Eunuch Wei, please first."

Zhang Yunxiu returned the gesture.

Wei Qing laughed heartily and walked inside with Zhang Yunxiu.

The two moved to the East Warm Pavilion. Inside, the Wanli Emperor was forcing himself to stay alert, yawning as he said: "Yunxiu, those two birds you gave me are indeed quite good. What were they called again?"

"Gyrfalcon, a type of divine eagle from Liaodong," Zhang Yunxiu replied respectfully.

"Oh." The Wanli Emperor nodded and asked again, "I heard that to help me get these eagles, you were severely beaten by Mr. Zhang and then grounded for three months?"

"Yes, your subject spent a tremendous amount of effort..."

Zhang Yunxiu's eyes turned red, and he was about to take the opportunity to complain, but the Wanli Emperor waved his hand to interrupt him: "It's fine, as long as you're better now. You've rested enough, haven't you? A lot of time has been wasted this year; it's time to go out and make money."

Huh? You really treat me like a slave, don't you? Zhang Yunxiu slowly raised his head and looked at the Wanli Emperor sitting on the dragon throne.

Facing Zhang Yunxiu's gaze, the Wanli Emperor said without blushing or skipping a beat: "Anyway, I don't care. The work in Songjiang Prefecture and Tianjin Guard needs to speed up. I have many places to spend money this year; you should be able to understand my difficulties."

You don't have any difficulties.

Sleeping until the sun is high every day, and you call that difficult? Despising the Emperor fiercely in his heart, Zhang Yunxiu quickly searched his mind for a way to rake in money.

Invade Japan?

No, the current army and warships are still lacking training. If he rashly attacked and actually lost, he would be the one to take the fall.

Continue to go out and do business, but the "leeks" haven't grown back yet.

Unable to think of a way to make quick money for a long time, Zhang Yunxiu grew impatient, and a row of fine sweat broke out on his forehead.

Suddenly, a Little Fire-bringer walked in carrying a basin of ice cubes.

Zhang Yunxiu felt a wave of coolness, and then he caught a glimpse of a silver plaque on the person's waist, which locked his gaze firmly.

"Hey, Director Zhang, what are you doing?" The eunuch saw him reaching for his waist plaque, his cheeks turned red instantly, and his hand holding the ice basin loosened; the ice cubes fell down abruptly.

"Bang."

The ice cubes scattered all over the floor, and the Little Fire-bringer knelt on the ground, crying and begging for mercy.

"Emperor, spare my life! Emperor, spare my life! This servant deserves to die, this servant deserves to die."

The Wanli Emperor was also startled, pointing at Zhang Yunxiu and shouting: "Zhang Yunxiu, what madness has taken you? Why are you grabbing that little eunuch's waist plaque? Don't tell me you want to enter the palace too?"

"Ah..." Zhang Yunxiu finally came to his senses. He scanned his surroundings and saw that Wei Qing and the others were all looking at him in astonishment.

Scratching his head, Zhang Yunxiu looked at the Wanli Emperor with a flushed face, bowed his hands respectfully and said: "Your subject... your subject has found a good way to help the Emperor make money. It is absolutely a business with ten thousand times the profit."

"Speak quickly." The Wanli Emperor stood up from his chair and urged Zhang Yunxiu to continue.

"It is this silver plaque."

Zhang Yunxiu smiled, picked up the waist plaque, walked into the middle of the crowd, and asked, "Emperor, tell me, how much does this waist plaque weigh?"

"I'm afraid it's less than two taels of silver," the Wanli Emperor estimated.

"What does Eunuch Wei think?"

"This old servant agrees with His Majesty." Following that, Zhang Yunxiu asked the Little Fire-bringer from before.

The Little Fire-bringer lowered his head to think for a moment and gave the same answer.

"Good, you all say it is two taels of silver, but I say it is ten taels of silver." Zhang Yunxiu grinned.

"Are you crazy? This silver plaque, not even half a palm in size, weighs ten taels?" The Wanli Emperor exclaimed, his chubby face full of disbelief and doubt.

"Emperor, during the Hongwu Era, Treasure Notes were issued. Those Treasure Notes were, to put it plainly, just a piece of paper; couldn't they be exchanged for money?" Zhang Yunxiu had prepared his draft in his heart and said loudly, "What I want to do is to standardize the size of silver."

"What do you mean?" The Wanli Emperor urged Zhang Yunxiu to continue.

Zhang Yunxiu nodded slightly and said in a measured tone, "Your Majesty, to put it plainly, money is also a type of commodity. It is just that this type of commodity is recognized by everyone and liked by everyone."

"Your subject will provide an analogy: it is like the girls in a brothel. Some girls cost five hundred taels of silver for one night, while others can be intimate with for only ten wen."

"What kind of nonsense is this? We are talking about money, why are you bringing up girls?" The Wanli Emperor had long been so anxious that his heart felt like it was being clawed by a monkey; seeing Zhang Yunxiu beating around the bush, he could not help but bark.

"It is all the same. Look at the girls in those houses; aren't they all priced by the madam?"

"You want Me to claim this two-tael silver plaque is worth ten taels?" The Wanli Emperor asked in a low voice, then felt it was ridiculous and shook his head abruptly: "Impossible. Even if I am the Emperor, there is no way to force the people of the world to hold their noses and accept it."

A small plaque of two taels of silver, claimed to be ten taels of silver? This is treating the people of the world like fools.

After grumbling to himself for a moment, the Wanli Emperor looked up at Zhang Yunxiu again, seeing him nod, still looking as if he had everything under control.

"Do you really have a way?"

"Yes. Your Majesty, have you ever heard of a money shop?" Zhang Yunxiu nodded at the Emperor and guided him step by step.

"Nonsense!" The Wanli Emperor was annoyed and put on his imperial dignity, "Tell Me the ins and outs of the matter clearly, and if you keep talking in riddles and making Me guess, I will punish you for the crime of deceiving the Emperor!"

"Your Majesty, those money shops are mostly owned by the common people. Their banknotes are just pieces of white paper, yet they can circulate throughout the world."

"What they rely on is nothing more than two words—'credit'."

At this point, Zhang Yunxiu paused slightly, and when he spoke, his words were deafening: "The highest credit in this world belongs to the Emperor and the imperial court. My method for making money is for Your Majesty and the Ministry of Revenue to work together to recast Silver Dollars and standardize the currency of the world!"

"Recasting money is recasting money, but what does that have to do with making money?" The Wanli Emperor asked suspiciously.

Wei Qing, standing to the side, was also confused and stared blankly at Zhang Yunxiu.

"Think about it, Your Majesty. A coin minted from one qian of silver would be set at a face value of one tael when put outside. A coin minted from one tael of silver would directly become ten taels of silver."

"The silver in Your Majesty's possession and in the national treasury would directly increase tenfold. Isn't this a great thing?"

Although the total amount increased and the silver held by the powerful clans remained the same, the interests of these powerful clans would be slightly damaged. But this is of great significance for the prosperity of commerce.

The biggest problem for the Great Ming at present is that the circulation of money is far less than what is needed.

That is to say, deflation.

After those merchants sell their goods to the far oceans, they earn a large amount of silver, but this silver rarely enters the market for circulation.

"Good! This method is good! Quickly have all the silver in My Inner Treasury minted into the coins you mentioned. Wouldn't that mean My Inner Treasury would have several million taels of silver?" The Wanli Emperor suddenly realized, clapped his hands, and jumped up from his chair in excitement.

"No, no, no, we cannot issue too much at once, otherwise it will be bad for the common people."

"Why?"

"Your Majesty, think about it. If we follow your method of minting coins, plus the national treasury's, that would be several thousand taels of Silver Dollars. If this were to flood into all walks of life in the Great Ming at once, it would inevitably lead to soaring prices."

"Then tell Me, how much money is appropriate to mint first?"

"Based on the current annual income of the national treasury, seven million taels would be the most appropriate," Zhang Yunxiu replied.

"Good, I will have the Grand Secretariat discuss this tomorrow."

The Wanli Emperor nodded and stood up to leave, but Zhang Yunxiu hurriedly stopped him and said urgently, "Your Majesty, your subject has not finished explaining the method for making money."

"You haven't finished?"

"Yes, this minting of money is only one of the foundations for making money," Zhang Yunxiu smiled and continued, "The real way to make money is for the imperial court and the royal family to open money shops."

"If others deposit their money in our money shops, we will give them two percent interest annually; if they borrow money from us, we will charge them nine percent interest annually."

"Back and forth, there is a seven percent profit."

Do not underestimate this seven percent profit. If money shops were opened throughout the Great Ming, the amount of money absorbed each year would be a terrifying figure.

Private lending is often usury.

Nine out and thirteen back is a common occurrence.

His annual interest rate of nine percent is already very conscientious, right?

Opening these banks has another great benefit—revitalizing commerce.

If some merchants really encounter difficulties, these money shops might just save their lives.

Of course, as a vulnerable group, money shops naturally cannot take too much risk. To borrow money, one must naturally undergo an assessment; if there is no collateral, the interest must be recalculated.

"Good, I will have the Grand Secretariat discuss this matter." The Wanli Emperor seemed to understand but not quite, and nodded gently.

"Your subject will leave the palace first to have someone prepare two sets of coin-minting molds for Your Majesty to see." Zhang Yunxiu walked to the center, bowed to the Wanli Emperor on the platform, and said respectfully.

"Go."

The Wanli Emperor yawned and said wearily, "Don't bother Me for the next few days. I need to get some good rest. Come see Me again when there is progress on the money-making matter."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)