Chapter 1009: The Shenzhou United Bank (Seeking Subscriptions)

In Laoshan, at Tangquan Town, in the Pang family garden, a dozen or so people were already seated at intervals in the drawing room. There was Zheng Zhilong, the wealthiest Minister of the Ministry of Revenue; Luo Dagong, from the Foreign Ministry, who claimed to love neither money nor beauty, only the Great Ming and the Emperor; Huang Jiang, the just-retired chief manager of the Maritime Merchants' Guild; Jia Bushi, the celebrated tycoon of the north; Prince Condé of France and Colbert, the French envoy; Marvell, the English envoy, and Pitt, the English minister; Governor-General De Huyer of the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch ambassador Bruys van Diemen; the Portuguese ambassador Shi Baoluo and the Portuguese governor of Macau, Bocarro.

Gathering so many eminent figures together was no easy matter. The only person who could bring them all here and make them wait patiently, sipping oddly flavored milk tea while awaiting his arrival, was of course the sovereign of ten thousand chariots of the Great Ming dynasty, Zhu Cilang.

Although many foreign envoys had come, today's gathering at the Pang family garden was not a diplomatic event — a diplomatic event could not possibly be held at the residence of Zhu Cilang's "imperial mistress" Marie Mancini. Even an informal diplomatic meeting would not be appropriate here.

Today's gathering was a commercial event of the utmost importance!

As the supreme sovereign, Zhu Cilang was probably the one and only capitalist emperor in all of Chinese history. As early as when he was still fleeing Beijing, he had already begun assembling his own commercial team. And while reorganizing the salt administration in Yangzhou, he had started working hard at his business venture while serving as the Prince Regent — it was truly too difficult!

And after the eunuch faction's rebellion in Nanjing, the first stage of Zhu Cilang's arduous venture was complete — truly inspirational! A sixteen-year-old youth starting from nothing, serving as Prince Regent while moonlighting as an entrepreneur, and in just a month or so achieving at least one small goal, all in genuine gold and silver and solid real estate — a miracle in the world of entrepreneurship!

And Zhu Cilang's entrepreneurial miracle continued over the following dozen or so years. The Royal Chamber of Commerce, founded in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, now stood alongside Zheng Zhilong's "Yiguan Chamber of Commerce" and Shen Tingyang's "Sand Ship Chamber of Commerce" as one of the three great chambers of commerce (conglomerates) of the Great Ming. Moreover, the Royal Chamber of Commerce had founded the Maritime Merchants' Bank and the Salt Merchants' Bank, dragging the Yiguan Chamber of Commerce and the Sand Ship Chamber of Commerce along with it onto the broad road of capitalist industry and commerce.

The three great chambers of commerce had now developed into the three great financial cliques within the Great Ming!

Of course, the communications and transportation conditions of the seventeenth century were extremely limited, and could not produce the kind of global monopoly conglomerates of later ages. Otherwise Zhu Cilang would not have sent Huang Jiang and Lin Yihu (Jia Bushi) to Europe to start their venture.

And today's commercial gathering was to raise venture capital for the entrepreneurial projects of Huang Jiang and Lin Yihu.

The entrepreneurial project of Huang Jiang and Lin Yihu was called the Shenzhou United Bank!

The Shenzhou United Bank had two main business lines. One was remittance and settlement between Shenzhou (Asia) and Europe — to put it simply, a European settlement center would be established in the town of Versailles near Paris, France. All merchants wishing to remit funds to Shenzhou (Asia) could first deposit their funds in branches of the Shenzhou United Bank opened in Paris, London, Hamburg, Lisbon, Amsterdam, and other cities, and then take their deposit certificates to the Versailles center to exchange them for remittance certificates.

And they would agree upon a time to withdraw the funds at the India settlement center in Ceylon, the Malacca settlement center in Batavia, the South Shenzhou settlement center in Guangzhou, or the East Shenzhou settlement center in Shanghai.

The Shenzhou United Bank was not responsible for all the settlement centers; it was only responsible for managing the operations of the European settlement center. The Ceylon center and the Malacca center were the responsibility of the Dutch East India Company, the Guangzhou center was the responsibility of the Maritime Merchants' Bank, and the Shanghai center was the responsibility of the Salt Merchants' Bank.

Among the five great settlement centers, the handling fees would be divided according to the distance of the remittance. As for the interest income generated during the remittance process, it would belong to the settlement center that had absorbed the remitted funds.

And the international settlement currency used by the five great settlement centers would be uniformly the "Ming liang," that is, the Great Ming's bank tael.

If any of the five great settlement centers needed to advance funds, the settlement center of the remitting party would pay advance interest to the advancing party, until the silver or gold used for settlement arrived.

The second major business segment of the Shenzhou United Bank was deposits and loans. This business segment was developed on the basis of the settlement business — the settlement business could provide both deposits and loans.

Because in this era, remittance was not a matter of sending a few electronic signals, but had to go through a lengthy process. During this process, the funds of the remitting party generated no interest income at all, and the bank in effect occupied a sum of interest-free capital.

At the same time, the remitting party could also take out a loan from the bank and then remit it. They only needed to provide collateral — land, real estate, jewelry, or a strong guarantee — and they could borrow from the bank and remit the funds for overseas trade.

With the support of this business, merchants in Europe and China could go to sea and conduct trade even without cash and without ships!

The Ming Emperor had not yet appeared, but Huang Jiang and Lin Yihu (under the name Jia Bushi) had already laid out the entire plan for the Shenzhou United Bank and the five great settlement centers.

De Huyer of the Dutch East India Company, Marvell the envoy of the English Republic, and Colbert the envoy of France — the three of them listened with eyes wide and staring.

What an enormous business this would be!

And the promotional effect of this business on overseas trade was extremely significant.

"Why set up the settlement bank near Paris? Why not in London?" the English envoy Marvell raised an objection.

"It should be set up in Amsterdam!" Governor-General De Huyer of the East India Company laughed. "If it were set up in London, this settlement bank would probably only be able to receive Puritans! How many merchants in Europe do you think can endure the Puritans' rules?"

"Right, right, right!" Prince Condé nodded repeatedly. "The merchants of the Great Ming have their own way of life and their own beliefs. They need a relatively relaxed environment. If they went to London, they'd probably all be arrested and hanged by Cromwell's men!"

Hanged?

How terrifying!

Condé was speaking Chinese, and both Huang Jiang and Lin Yihu could understand him. They both put on exaggerated expressions of horror — setting up the European settlement bank in France was, of course, a decision the Zhu Emperor had made after careful deliberation. Because placing it in England would not only invite trouble from the Puritans, but would also strengthen London's position in European economic life.

And setting it up in Amsterdam was also inappropriate, because two of the five great settlement centers were already under Dutch control. If the most important European center also went to Amsterdam, then this international settlement system would sooner or later fall into Dutch hands.

This was a situation that not only Zhu Cilang was unwilling to accept — neither France nor England would agree to it either.

Moreover, the conflict between England and the Netherlands was extremely great, and no one knew when war would break out! When the two countries blockaded each other, how would the international settlement business be conducted?

"Very well," Marvell conceded a step. "The European settlement bank can be placed in France, but the settlement bank for the Indian market cannot be placed in Ceylon."

"Then where should it be placed?" De Huyer asked.

"It can be placed in Goa!" the Portuguese ambassador Shi Baoluo interjected. "We Portuguese have operated in Goa for over a hundred years and have already established very stable rule there. It is extremely suitable as a trade center for the Indian region!" He glanced at the English envoy Marvell. "The settlement bank for the Indian Ocean can be jointly administered by the Governor's Office of Goa and the British East India Company."

"That is very good!" Marvell nodded in approval.

"France has no objection."

De Huyer said loudly, "No, we Dutch do not agree!"

Just as the dispute was deadlocked, someone suddenly shouted, "His Majesty arrives!"

Zhu Cilang had arrived!

In fact, Zhu Cilang had arrived long ago. He had been in the next room with Marie Mancini, being affectionate, while waiting for the Dutch and the English to start arguing.

Once they started arguing, Zhu Cilang would step in as an arbiter and move the Ceylon center to Goa!

(End of Chapter)