Chapter 433

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

At the counters of the Jiangning Head Office, the stream of people exchanging for gold and platinum was incessant, just like a famous shop selling freshly baked bread.

Young, old, middle-aged, men and ladies — they stuffed bar after bar of gold and platinum into their close-fitting pockets, like kangaroos — because Jiangning Bank's minimum redemption amount was 10g, meaning 2,500 yuan in Gold Vouchers or 3,200 yuan in Platinum Vouchers.

Gao Qiu watched the queuing crowd with burning anxiety and successively opened three additional counters in hopes of ending the line, lest more people see it and a run develop. Whether a banking official or a banker, what they fear most is a run — that is simply blood-sucking.

And on the matter of Gold Bonds, Gao Qiu's thinking mode was likewise.

When lunch ended, his assistant brought him today's report form. The figure "3.46 tonnes" made his pupils dilate.

"Can't go on. Two days, sold 7 tonnes of gold and platinum, bought back 3-plus tonnes. We're not a gold shop." After muttering this to himself, Gao Qiu ordered: "Go make the call, summon the Committee people for a meeting."

The assistant knew without asking it was the "Bond Committee" — more precisely the "Precious Metals Bond Committee". Most of Jiangning Bank was busy serving them, and President Gao Qiu wasn't anxious for the first time. When the issuance profit dropped to 2.5%, he had sulked in his office for half a day, grumbling "kids these days" and scolding all the young people in the office. Of course, after venting, President Gao was still gentle and refined — like a sturdy hippo, seemingly docile but actually irascible, and he concealed it well in public.

Li Lao, Xu Chengchu, and Chen Yi hurried over. Fang Zhennan, like the rest of the Chen Family, had handed his provisional voting right to Li Lao — Chen Yi held one veto vote; the family also needed a certain balance.

"Have Lu Assistant brief you on the situation. As we anticipated, a run has occurred." After greeting the three, Gao Qiu slumped lazily into the last seat. A run is what banking officials least want to encounter; Gao Qiu, living in the Republic, thought he would never see one in his lifetime.

Lu Assistant was thin and small like a pony, his back slightly stooped as if forever bearing a heavy load; his voice was equally heavy: "Over the past 50-plus hours, we have sold 5 billion yuan in bonds, sales proceeding smoothly. Three consecutive mornings sold out the 1 billion Gold Bonds ahead of schedule, while the afternoon sold 1 billion Platinum Bonds... However, according to today's noon statistics, in the past two and a half days the bank has repurchased 1.58 billion, a repurchase rate of 31.6%... Price: gold 250 yuan per gram, platinum 320 yuan per gram — meaning each 100-yuan Gold Bond contains 0.4g gold, each 100-yuan Platinum Bond contains 0.3125g platinum. This price is a few yuan below the domestic average, equivalent to a discount on bond sales..."

Among the four Committee members, only Xu Chengchu listened seriously.

This was within expectations, though its occurrence was very unpleasant.

"Are they redeeming more gold, or more platinum?" Chen Yi asked, pondering.

"More gold."

"Chinese people still believe in gold, huh." Chen Yi laughed, flicked the table with a finger: "We have more platinum; that's a problem."

Gao Qiu didn't know if Chen Yi failed to grasp the severity or was truly relaxed; he cleared his throat and reminded: "If platinum remains, fine. The problem is at this rate, 150 tonnes of gold and platinum won't last two months before selling out. When that happens... our Bond Committee will just fizzle out."

Chen Yi thought: in two months bacterial metallurgy efficiency must quadruple, monthly output above 80 tonnes; as long as the ore veins aren't exhausted, a sell-out absolutely won't happen.

Of course, the reason he gave openly was: "Jiangning's gold and platinum consumption is limited; even if everyone has money, they wouldn't all convert to gold and platinum to hide away, right? Heavy redemption at the start is normal. Actually, converting entirely to gold and platinum is fine too — they can't spend gold bars directly; ultimately they still have to use our Gold Vouchers to buy goods on the market."

This was exactly Chen Yi's plan — flood the market with gold and platinum.

Of course, if analyzed by supply-demand, too much precious metal might lower its price. But in the broad real world, precious metals are the core of value. Neither US dollars nor RMB are... Therefore when gold rises, people don't say "gold rises" but "the dollar depreciates" — correspondingly, when oil rises, people say "oil rises", at most adding "caused by dollar depreciation".

This is because precious metals are inherently scarce, while oil is artificially scarce.

So as long as Chen Yi supplies sufficient precious metal, whether 150 tonnes or 150,000 tonnes, as long as it serves as money, the world can absorb it, and the world is willing to absorb it.

Before the dollar dominated the world, the world's settlement currencies were gold and silver, and so it remained until the 1970s.

Bad money driving out good doesn't mean good money reaches a dead end; as long as good money can hold on, the ultimate winner must be good money.

Only Gao Qiu didn't believe Chen Yi could produce unlimited precious metal.

His reasoning was clear: world precious metal output is transparent; 150 tonnes is already shocking enough — where would more come from.

So in a popular-science tone he told Chen Yi: "Several tens of billions in precious metal is plenty for ordinary people in Jiangning City. China's annual gold consumption is only 400 tonnes. The problem is those jewelry companies, industrial groups, banks and insurance companies that can't buy gold... they're all watching. 150 tonnes of precious metal, at most lets them burp."

"Let them eat." Chen Yi's answer was so rogue it left one helpless.

Gao Qiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "After they eat their fill, what do we do?"

"I said, supply 20 tonnes a month, at least 5 billion. Stretch a bit, get through this month, precious metal supply will rise further."

"Rise further?" Gao Qiu didn't know where the precious metal came from; this clearly exceeded his cognition; his face showed deep hesitation and worry. Jiangning Bank was dragged in, but once in, there was no pulling out.

The conference room fell silent for minutes; still Gao Qiu spoke: "I have another doubt. What if the state moves, spends money to redeem our gold and platinum — then what?"

Li Lao and Xu Chengchu immediately turned to look at Chen Yi.

The latter chuckled twice: "Then I'll just treat it as having sold the gold and platinum."

"Sold?" Gao Qiu was baffled.

Chen Yi nodded solemnly: "Our main task now is to endure. We must let everyone get familiar with Gold Bonds. Don't rush success; the longer we endure, the closer to success."

"Precious metal will be consumed to exhaustion."

"I'll find a way to replenish precious metal. As long as we control a certain issuance volume, we can sustain it." This counted as a small promise from Chen Yi; his chest warmed slightly.

The current West Continent is like the happy Americas of the colonial era — staggering reserves of various precious metals; Shenqi Mountain alone is at the ten-thousand-tonne level. Given the difficulty and pollution of gold and platinum smelting, West River Water Fortress's main extraction method is bacterial smelting.

Per Zhou Houyuan's design, the mining pool can process and produce 20 tonnes of gold or platinum in month one, 40 tonnes in month two, then ramp to 80, 160... 1,600 tonnes of gold or platinum per year, like child's play.

1,600 tonnes is precisely the amount of gold and silver Spain mined annually in the Americas.

Precisely because of this, the insufficient precious metal quantity Gao Qiu worries about is actually Chen Yi's strategic release method. This is also the driving force behind his idea of issuing currency.

Only, when the thought of establishing a precious metal currency truly surged, his attention was diverted.

Compared to establishing a currency system, several hundred billion or several trillion is merely trivial.

The private banks and institutions that founded the Federal Reserve back then gained untold benefits as America developed. China's national conditions are special, yet the Chen Family's status in China is not necessarily lower than the Federal Reserve founders' status in America... The Jiangning region trial has surely caught the nation's eye, but as long as the old man doesn't fall, they must play by the game rules...

Even if rules are truly broken, Chen Yi with five Divine Art Knights doesn't mind playing by rule-breaking methods.

Grandpa Chen Zhongguo also doesn't care if Chen Yi wrecks China's monetary system or tries to replace the Central Bank. Actually, if he can return to the Politburo, that one-ninth-of-the-morning power is far heavier than the Central Bank's power. Put another way, Chen Yi's silent currency-rights trial also presses a heavy weight for Grandpa's return to the political stage.

If it really succeeds, Upper Management will have to put up stakes to game; if it fails, the Chen Family suffers almost no loss — the banknotes from bond sales are real cash; Chen Yi takes that money and can keep expanding the Martial Arts Hall and West Continent.

Li Lao likely received a hint; seeing Gao Qiu's attention still on the bank run, he muddled through: "How about we set up a window to buy back precious metal?"

"Wouldn't that show we lack strength?" Gao Qiu finally kept his head; per run theory, no matter how big a bank, it can't withstand a run — the key is building people's confidence.

Chen Yi clapped in approval: "Cannot set up a buyback window. I have a place for the money received; if they demand redemption and we have no money to redeem, that's real trouble."

Old Master Xu finally understood a bit, asked uneasily: "President Gao just said banks and insurance companies would also buy our gold?"

"Insurance companies do long-term investment; precious metal preserves value, so they're willing to buy."

"Send someone to warn them — jewelry companies too — not allowed to buy."

Gao Qiu's market-economy brain froze; he smiled: "How can that work?"

"Why not? Uncle is a reasonable man. I'll find someone to warn them—redeeming gold and platinum now is tearing down the Old Chen Family's stage."

……(Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)