On February 20, the third year of Chongzhen's reign, the business was successfully opened. On this day, the capital was alarmed. Emperor Chongzhen led his cabinet members to the Meridian Gate to cut the ribbon and sign the new building.
This idea came from Zhong Jinwei. In order to allow the bank to attract more money, Emperor Chongzhen listened to Zhong Jinwei and carried out this unprecedented move.
In full view of the public, a plaque on the new building was hung up, titled: Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty.
Zhong Jinwei looked at the name he had chosen, feeling a little proud and proud.
Immediately afterwards, Emperor Chongzhen issued a decree that all officials' salaries would no longer be paid directly in kind or in silver coins, but would instead be paid in Ming Jiusi Bao banknotes. If necessary, you can go to a bank to exchange silver coins, it is entirely voluntary and there is no restriction.[
In order to strengthen everyone's confidence, a performance show was also performed. The first minister Wen Tiren took the lead and led the cabinet members and the six ministers to receive the new banknotes in a high-profile manner. Then the Ministry of Revenue also distributed the salaries of other officials for the next month.
These things were of course planned by Zhong Jinwei. As for the effect, at least on the surface, it was pretty good.
Zhong Jinwei also sent a large number of envoys throughout the city to guide people to exchange silver for banknotes.
One of the agents sent out was named Wang Fuxi. After thinking about the request made by Marquis Zhongxing, he came to a higher-end restaurant and entered the lobby on the first floor, which had the largest number of people, to drink.
It was just afternoon at this time, and there were many people drinking and eating, and many people were talking about the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty.
Wang Fuxi was thinking about how to interrupt and complete the task. This time she came alone and without a companion, it was really not a good start.
Just as he was thinking about it, three people came in. One of them, a strong man with a loud voice, shouted directly: "Waiter, as usual, serve the food and wine."
The waiter obviously recognized the person and agreed enthusiastically, then turned around and headed to the kitchen.
The three of them found an empty table and sat down next to Wang Fuxi.
I just heard the strong man ask one of the businessman-looking people: "Brother, today is a big event, the emperor is here in person."
The merchant nodded and sighed: "This has never happened in the Ming Dynasty. The Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty is not like a yamen. If it is a bank, it is impossible for the emperor to come to it in person. I can't figure it out."
When Wang Fuxi heard this, it was a rare opportunity. He quickly turned around and answered: "If there is anything I can't figure out, the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty is both a yamen and a bank."
When the strong man heard this, he clasped his fist at Wang Fuxi and said, "Brother, what do you mean by this?"
The merchant stood up and said, "Brother, if you don't mind, could you please come over and talk?"
Wang Fuxi didn't get what she asked for, so she pretended to ponder for a moment and said, "Okay, I see that these three of you are worthy people to associate with, so I'll talk to them."
His voice was a bit loud, and several people in the lobby were already attracted by their topic. When he spoke so loudly, more people started paying attention.
The short man was closest to Wang Fuxi. Hearing that he was willing to share the table with them, he quickly came over to help with the dishes.
When the four of them sat down, the waiter had already started serving the dishes. The merchant asked the waiter who brought the dishes to add some more good dishes.
Wang Fuxi waited for the waiter to leave and then said: "This Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty is a place used by the imperial court to exchange silver coins and banknotes, so the emperor will come in person." [
"Paper currency, what kind of banknote, Ming Dynasty currency?" The merchant was a little surprised. The ostentation in the bank was too big before, and ordinary people did not dare to approach it, so he did not know the details.
"No, it's not the Ming Dynasty's popular banknotes, but the Ming Dynasty's Nine Sis banknotes." Wang Fuxi shook his head and corrected, while taking out a few banknotes from his arms, "Look, these are the Ming Dynasty's Nine Sis banknotes.
New banknotes.”
The three of them curiously took a few of the banknotes from Wang Fuxi's hand. When they saw it, people at other tables were all curious about the new banknotes. Several of them even stood up, stopped eating, and came to their table to take a look.
After several people looked at it, they were all surprised by the beauty of the new banknotes. It was obvious that the court had spent a lot of effort printing these banknotes.
However, these banknotes were exquisite and exquisite. Everyone still remembered what happened to the previous Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes. The merchant first asked Wang Fuxi: "Brother, are these banknotes of yours issued by the imperial court?"
Wang Fuxi shook his head and said while taking back his banknotes: "I changed them myself." In fact, it was the activity fee given to them by Zhong Jinwei.
"What, you changed it yourself, aren't you afraid that these banknotes will become a piece of waste paper?" The strong man was shocked when he heard this, and his voice couldn't help but become louder.
The people watching around also looked at Wang Fuxi, as if they were seeing a crazy person with abnormal brains.
"What do you know? Old ideas." Wang Fuxi showed his disdain for them.
The merchant knew that there was something inside and quickly asked, "Brother, please give me some advice."
"Compared with silver and copper coins, are these banknotes easier to use?" Wang Fuxi did not answer them immediately, but first asked about the benefits of banknotes.
Apart from the depreciation of paper money, there is really no shortcoming of it compared to physical currency. This is one of the reasons why paper money appeared spontaneously among the people starting from the Song Dynasty.
The merchant nodded and said, "Using banknotes can indeed save a lot of trouble."
"I know what you are worried about. If this banknote does not depreciate, will you choose to use banknotes?" Wang Fuxi continued to ask.
The people around him looked at each other, and then everyone nodded.
"That's okay. Now the court has regulations that banknotes can be exchanged for silver taels of the same face value, and silver taels can also be exchanged for banknotes of the same value. You can exchange them at any time, you are bullying me." Wang Fuxi looked like you can't figure it out.
"Is it the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty?" the merchant asked doubtfully.
"It's the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty. The relevant regulations are posted there. You can exchange the fineness of the official silver there. You can tell at a glance." Wang Fuxi affirmed.
Everyone looked at each other and remembered that the Ming Dynasty currency notes were forcibly issued by the government and could not be exchanged for silver coins. Now the court says that they can be exchanged for silver coins, can they really be redeemed?
Wang Fuxi looked at the expressions of these people and knew that they were doubtful, so she added: "Today, all officials' salaries will be paid out with these Ming Dynasty Jiu Si Bao Banknotes. If they still want to use the money back, they can still go
Daming Royal Bank Exchange.”
"That's not right, brother, it's not the time for salary distribution yet." The merchant suddenly discovered that there were errors and omissions in what Wang Fuxi said.
"You don't know, but in order to celebrate the opening of the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty, the emperor specially distributed the salary in advance." Wang Fuxi replied.[
Suddenly an onlooker asked: "How do you know so clearly?"
Wang Fuxi was stunned for a moment, and then immediately replied: "You can find out by going to the bank and taking a look. Besides, I have another channel to find out."
Cats have catwalks and dogs have dogwalks. The merchant knew this. So he didn't ask where he got the information. After all, it was more private.
"Officials can go to banks to exchange banknotes and silver taels, but we ordinary people can also go to banks to exchange banknotes and silver taels?" the merchant confirmed.
"Exactly." Wang Fuxi nodded.
"Can the Ming Dynasty's Tongbao banknotes also be exchanged for silver?" the merchant asked further.
Wang Fuxi didn't expect him to ask this question, so she thought for a moment and then replied: "It doesn't seem possible. The notice stated that the Ming Dynasty Jiusi Baobao banknotes can be exchanged for silver coins."
"Aren't those banknotes issued by the government?" someone in the crowd said.
"Just look at the printing of the Tongxing Bao banknote and the Jiusi Bao banknote. They must be treated differently." Wang Fuxi replied.
"That's not fair!" the man complained, and a few in the crowd echoed his opinion.
When the strong man saw Wang Fuxi's face darken, he turned around and said, "What are you doing here? Are you asking us to eat or not? Let's go, let's go, let's go."
Indeed, a group of people gathered around the four of them, trying to eat. The onlookers were confused, so they apologized and went back to their seats to continue eating.
The merchant also complained to Wang Fuxi that he only asked questions and delayed the meal, so several people started drinking from cup to cup.
While they were eating and chatting, the merchant kept trying to trick Wang Fuxi, wanting to know more.
Wang Fuxi was so happy to pretend to be stupid that she told him everything she could.
At the end of the meal, Wang Fuxi felt that these three people were not bad, and he happened to have something to do, so he called the waiter to come over and pay the bill, and he treated them.
The waiter immediately ran over, bowed and smiled, interrupting Wang Fuxi and the merchant who were still fighting each other to pay: "Sir, the total is one tael, one cent, five cents and three cents, thank you."
Wang Fuxi held down the merchant's hand that was stretched out into his arms and said, "If you continue to be polite to your brother, I won't recognize you as my friend!"
When the merchant saw that Wang Fuxi was talking about this, he stopped insisting, but he didn't expect that Wang Fuxi would end up paying the bill.