Chapter 1018: The Emperor Is Raising Money! (Please Add to Favorites)

Zheng Chagu's method of making money was, of course, learned from Zhu Cilang!

This woman had absolutely inherited "Zheng Superman's" brain for making money. Any knowledge about making money breed money, she grasped at once and mastered immediately, and she could even apply it flexibly. Even Zhu Cilang envied that brain — if he had possessed such a mind back then, he would have been a super-tycoon long ago!

And Zhu Cilang was happy to teach her. After taking her as a consort, he had been passing on to her the "art of transforming money," and he would also discuss the affairs of the Royal Commercial Company with her.

Later, seeing that she had a gift for finance and management, he simply let her help audit the Royal Commercial Company's accounts.

"Then... then this concubine will speak," Zheng Chagu said, glancing at Wu Sanmei, whose face was livid — Empress Wu had lost face badly. Not knowing that Zheng Chagu could make money was one thing, but she had not even known that Zheng Chagu had money. It was truly humiliating.

"Speak, speak." Zhu Cilang smiled. "Tell Us where Our thirty million taels of silver are."

Zheng Chagu said, "Your Majesty does not have thirty million taels of silver! Even if it could be scraped together from all sides, it would not all be invested in the United States, because there are simply too many places that need money."

"You don't have it?" The Retired Emperor Chongzhen's eyes widened further. "Could it be that the matter of investing money to develop the United States of New Continent is entirely fictitious?"

Zhu Cilang smiled. "How could the United States of New Continent possibly be fictitious? That is the very thing upon which our Great Ming's dynastic fortune can be passed down for another two or three hundred years!"

As he spoke, he glanced again at Wu Sanmei, then continued, "The powerful are wolves, the common people are sheep, and the land under heaven is grass. When wolves are many and sheep are few, the pack will inevitably fight over the sheep and cause chaos. When wolves are many and sheep are many, there will not be enough grass to eat. Sheep without grass to eat can only eat meat! First the sheep devour one another, and then the fierce sheep with sharp teeth and horns contend with the wolves for the world.

To resolve the contradiction among wolves, sheep, and grass, there is no choice but to expand outward and obtain a vast pasture where the flocks can graze. In this way, both the sheep with no grass to eat and the wolves with no sheep to eat can be sent out, and the Great Ming realm will be secure!"

In later generations, some historians linked China's dynastic cycle to the contradiction between people and land. That view may not be entirely correct, but in Emperor Zhu's eyes it made sense.

What the vast majority of Chinese common folk cared about most was the problem of eating! "Give me liberty or give me death" was not a Chinese ideal. Therefore, the "base asset" of every feudal dynasty in Chinese history was, in fact, grain!

As long as there was more grain than could be eaten, the reactionary rule of a feudal dynasty could always find a way to maintain itself.

Therefore, the key to how many more years this autocratic dynasty, the Great Ming, could be passed on lay absolutely not in the bourgeoisie of Nanjing or Shanghai, nor in the several "contracted garrison commands" of the north. It lay in whether there was a way to send the cold and hungry masses to the United States of New Continent to eat meat by the mouthful. This was not only a problem of sheep, but also a problem of wolves!

If there were no place to release the wolves, how would an autocratic dynasty dare to raise wolves freely? It would certainly have to raise the wolves into pet dogs!

But if the Great Ming dynasty had half, or a lesser half, of a new continent where wolves could be released, and if it also needed the packs of wolves that had grown up in Pukou and Laoshan to go there and bite it out with the English wolves, the French wolves, the Spanish wolves, and the German wolves, then there would be no need to raise wolves into dogs.

With a batch of Pukou wolves and Laoshan wolves that had torn at the Western wolves in the New World, the central military power of the Great Ming could be maintained for a long time.

With central military power secured, the northern garrison commands would also be obedient and useful.

The Retired Emperor Chongzhen now understood the relationship among wolves, sheep, and grass, but he still did not understand what was going on with Zhu Cilang's thirty million taels!

"In the end, did you invest thirty million or not?" the Retired Emperor Chongzhen pressed.

"Of course we invested," Zheng Chagu said, "but only five percent was invested in silver — that is, one and a half million taels. The rest was invested using credit and financial schemes, so it was not necessary to produce ready silver."

The thirty million taels Zhu Cilang invested was subscribed capital, and subscribed capital does not need to be paid in full immediately. Moreover, paid-in capital need not be ready silver; it can also be offset by land, goods, intellectual property, and the like after appraisal and valuation.

In addition, there is a process between subscription and actual payment. The length of this process can be negotiated among the shareholders, with the bottom line being that the subscribed capital must be paid in full when a debt dispute or liquidation occurs.

In other words, the thirty million taels of subscription was merely the limited capital contribution obligation that Zhu Cilang assumed toward the United States of New Continent.

Chongzhen and Wu Sanmei blinked, still not quite understanding.

Zheng Chagu continued to explain, "One hundred million taels is only the subscribed principal, not the paid-in principal. If that much were actually paid in, there would be no way to spend it all! New Continent is vast, but it is far away, and the process of investing money to develop it is bound to be long and slow. Therefore, with five million taels of paid-in capital, the situation can be propped up."

"How long can five million last?" the Retired Emperor Chongzhen asked. "When it is spent, won't you still have to pay in more?"

Zheng Chagu did not answer immediately, but looked at Zhu Cilang.

"Speak. Continue." Zhu Cilang smiled.

Only then did Zheng Chagu continue, "After the five million is spent, there are still three ways to raise money. First, have the shareholders pay in another portion of capital; second, borrow from banks; third... issue small shares!"

"Issue small shares? What does that mean?" Chongzhen pressed.

"Of course it means making the gentry and wealthy merchants pay up!" Zheng Chagu said. "Those who have put in money so far are all the hardship-enduring ennobled merit lords. Wealthy men without titles are not qualified to invest. Once the United States of New Continent's situation has improved somewhat, shares can be raised from wealthy commoners. At that point they will be small shares. For example, one share at ten thousand taels or one share at one thousand taels, with one hundred or one thousand small shares roughly equivalent to one large share.

Small shares cannot confer a marquisate, but earldoms, baronies, and viscountcies can still be conferred. Small shareholders cannot become hereditary elders, but a consultative assembly can still be established to let them elect councilors. As for land, it can be granted according to the number of shares.

With these benefits, raising small shares of several tens of millions to one hundred million taels should not be a problem. And small shares must be paid in immediately."

The Retired Emperor Chongzhen and Wu Sanmei were both astonished.

This was catching a white wolf with empty hands!

What kind of emperor was this? This was simply a profiteer!

Seeing the astonished expressions of Chongzhen and Wu Sanmei, Zhu Cilang smiled and said, "This was all Chagu's idea. We said nothing at all!"

Wu Sanmei furrowed her delicate brows and looked seriously at Zheng Chagu. "Sister Chagu, it is fine to say such things at home, but they must not be spread outside. If others learn that the imperial house does things this way, I fear no one will be willing to invest silver in the United States of New Continent!"

Hearing her words, Zhu Cilang could not help but sigh. Sanmei was good in every way, except that she had no head for finance! He could only hope that Zhu Hexing would not take after her...

Wu Sanmei turned and glanced at Zhu Cilang, then looked at Zheng Chagu.

Chagu said, "Does Her Majesty the Empress think that those merchants who can produce ten thousand taels of silver to buy one small share would not know that His Majesty has not paid his subscribed capital in full? Besides, His Majesty would never keep false accounts to deceive people. He would certainly state everything clearly."

"Knowing that, would they still invest silver?" Wu Sanmei asked.

"They would!" Chagu nodded. "They would certainly scramble to invest!"

"Why would they scramble to invest?" Chongzhen asked.

"Because it is a guaranteed profit with no risk of loss!" Zheng Chagu said. "Although the imperial house has not paid its subscribed capital in full for the time being, the land, mountains and rivers, harbors, and products of the United States of New Continent are all real and substantial. If these assets were converted to cash one by one, they would not be a matter of a few hundred million taels of silver, but tens of billions of taels. Now, for a little over ten thousand taels, one can own one part in several tens of thousands of the United States of New Continent. Of course it is a guaranteed profit with no risk of loss.

A deal that is guaranteed to profit with no risk of loss — of course people will scramble to invest. To invest is to profit!"

To invest is to profit? Was there really such a good thing? The Retired Emperor Chongzhen's mind began to turn. He still had a bit of private savings. Should he invest it too? However much he invested, he would earn a little, and in the future he could spend money more freely.

Wu Sanmei, for her part, glanced somewhat reproachfully at Emperor Zhu. Such a good deal, guaranteed to profit with no risk of loss — why had he not let Wu Sanfu invest? No, she must have a proper talk with him later. Sanfu must be made to invest, at least five hundred thousand taels...

(End of Chapter)