After arranging this matter, Emperor Chongzhen did not ask Concubine Tian to lead someone to copy the contents of the mobile phone. Instead, he took the mobile phone and read the contents sent to him by Liu Weichao.
One was about banks. There was a lot of information. He spent a long time looking at this item alone.
Although, judging from the current conditions, it is not a good time to establish a bank. The focus should be on strengthening the army. At least we must defeat the Jianlu and win the Battle of Kaifeng before we can start the steps of establishing a bank.
The first step is to reform the currency and use the silver dollar system. According to different metal mixing ratios, different face values are given to different silver coins. Although it is not as cheap as the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, it can get more than directly issuing silver.
money!
Emperor Chongzhen liked this very much.
In Liu Weichao's information, he suggested using a steam engine to build a large stamping machine to stamp silver coins, making it more difficult to counterfeit, so that all the output of silver coins would be controlled by the imperial court.
Emperor Chongzhen had no opinion at all on this point.
Not to mention silver, copper coins are something that many landlords and tycoons secretly do to make money. What is this? This is stealing money from the imperial court. How can it be allowed?
In addition, Liu Weichao's information said that the amount of currency circulating in the market should be linked to the output of commodities. If the output of commodities is large, more silver dollars can be printed; if the output of commodities is small, less silver dollars can be printed.
It is guaranteed that the currency will not depreciate or increase in value, and will be controlled within a reasonable range.
Emperor Chongzhen was actually confused about this, because he felt that there was no way to know how much goods were produced?
This matter about banks is difficult to say, but it is a bit difficult to do.
For example, another one, Liu Weichao, also suggested that the bank launch a universal deposit and redemption system, that is, the money deposited in the capital can be withdrawn in Nanjing with the deposit slip.
However, how to prevent forgery of deposit receipts is a problem. Also, how to reconcile the accounts in Nanjing with the banks in Beijing?
In short, it is still quite difficult to open this bank and use money to make money.
However, Emperor Chongzhen also decided in his heart that this matter should be kept in mind and must be brought up at the appropriate time.
By the way, the talents needed by banks can also be cultivated from now on.
Thinking of this, he sent a voice message to Liu Weichao and told him this idea, asking Liu Weichao to see if he could prepare a suitable teaching material for him.
Banks can not only make money, but also affect the national economy. Emperor Chongzhen must open one.
In addition, there are many issues that need to be confirmed regarding the purchase of materials from Jiangnan and transportation to the north, including the priority list of materials, procurement rules, transportation channels, etc.
Emperor Chongzhen was thinking about these things, and he didn't know when he fell asleep.
As soon as he woke up the next day, he convened the cabinet and six ministries to hold an imperial meeting in the Wenhua Palace.
Before Emperor Chongzhen could speak, He Fengsheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, went out and said: "Your Majesty, the cabinet has received a memorial from the governor of Yangzhou, Ying Tianfu patrol, impeaching Wang Dehua, the admiral of Dongchang, for colluding with the guards' troops in Yangzhou, committing lawlessness and preying on the common people.
, the people’s resentment is boiling, and there is almost a possibility of a popular uprising!”
After finishing speaking, he held two memorials in his hands and presented them to the emperor for reading.
Obviously, these two memorials should have just arrived, and they have not yet reached the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
Emperor Chongzhen heard what he expected, and immediately said calmly: "I have also received the report from Wang Daban. The so-called common people, I want to know, are salt merchants, or big salt merchants, the same as common people?"
"..." He Fengsheng and others were a little surprised when they heard this. For a while, no one answered.
Theoretically speaking, no matter how big or small the salt merchants are, they belong to the common people, and that is no problem; however, in reality, the common people among the common people and the boiling public complaints definitely do not refer to the salt merchants, especially the big salt merchants.
Wang Dehua in Yangzhou used a sharp knife to cut through the mess.
After he arrived in Yangzhou, he immediately went to see the Yangzhou local guard station and used coercion and inducement to get the guard station to obey his orders directly. This can be seen from the fact that he distributed nearly one million taels to the local guard station.
Of course, Wang Dehua's list clearly stated the significance of this expenditure. Without mobilizing the army, the Dongchang soldiers he brought would not be enough to quickly raid the houses of the top ten salt merchants.
Afterwards, there was actually no investigation at all, and the house was searched directly according to the list of the ten richest salt merchants in Yangzhou. The charges were searched during the house search, and they were nothing more than common charges, such as selling illegal salt, residences, clothes, travel, etc.
Overstepping the rules, keeping slaves, raising private soldiers, plotting rebellion, etc.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at their appearance and continued: "I am summoning all the ministers today because it is related to the matter in Yangzhou. I have Wang Daban's report here. Please wait and see."
Wang Dehua was formerly the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, so he certainly knew what would happen in the court. Therefore, he was considerate and wrote the memorial separately. One of the memorials was for the officials in the court to see.
It was this memorial that Emperor Chongzhen showed them.
Seeing the ministers below circulating the memorial, Emperor Chongzhen did not wait for them all to finish reading, and asked directly: "Do you think what Wang Daban said is untrue?"
If the emperor might be kept in the dark about what was going on in the local area, these people who had been in high and low officialdom for decades actually knew it well.
If the big salt merchants only sold official salt, they would never be so rich.
As for the issue of exceeding the limit, in this era, almost everyone exceeds the limit, let alone the rich.
The court has legal constraints on the issue of slave ownership, but it is almost the same as overstepping the rules. It is also a piece of waste paper and almost no one cares about it. However, it is basically impossible to keep slaves and raise them as private soldiers, that is, the family
Slaves are used to show off and command, not to rebel.
Normally, no one cares about these crimes, because everyone does it. But now, if it is true, those big salt merchants will be convicted of treason and the nine tribes will be punished.
There is a reason why Wang Dehua, an old treacherous and cunning person, directly used these charges to report. The court wants to investigate, and every investigation must be accurate.
After He Fengsheng and others received the report from Jiangnan, they roughly knew the reason just by looking at it. Wang Dehua must have done this after the emperor's order.
Otherwise, Wang Dehua, the admiral of Dongchang, has never been to Jiangnan. It would be impossible for him to suddenly run away!
However, this matter cannot be stated openly. It is a big salt merchant who has a lot of money and came to kill the pigs.
After all, Emperor Chongzhen had raided all kinds of houses before, including civil servants, military officers, Shanxi merchants, etc., plus salt merchants, so it’s not surprising!
However, you can't make this statement, the emperor will definitely not admit it.
At this time, they were speechless when faced with Emperor Chongzhen's words.
But they also knew that there was definitely something wrong with doing so. But for a moment, they couldn't figure out how to tell the emperor.
Emperor Chongzhen ignored them and took the two memorials handed over by his chamberlain. He threw them down without looking at them. At the same time, he shouted: "Here at Xichang, check whether these two people have colluded with the salt merchants and are trying to slander them like this."
What is Wang Daban’s intention?”
When Wang Chengen heard this, he immediately stepped forward, picked up the two memorials and said: "I obey the order, and I will send someone to Yangzhou now!"
"..." When the cabinet and six ministers saw this, they couldn't help but look at me and me at you. For a moment, no one dared to speak.
The emperor's meaning is very clear. Anyone who speaks for the big salt merchants is colluding with the big salt merchants. This is not a small hat!
Emperor Chongzhen glanced at them, and did not speak by name. He just said to himself: "I plan to use all the proceeds from Yangzhou to purchase the supplies needed in the north. Please think about it. If you need anything, just ask!"
Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but feel happy. If the emperor didn't just keep the money and spend it himself, then it would be fine.
No one thought about standing up for the salt merchants, and immediately started reporting the urgently needed items one by one.
After they finished speaking one by one, Emperor Chongzhen took charge and ranked them according to their importance.
First, food and grass, this is the most important. If there is no food, there is no need to talk about anything. In addition to daily life, we must also ensure the supply of military food, famine relief, etc. In short, food must not be lacking.
Second, cotton. Seeing that half a year has passed, the weather will get colder next, and cotton-padded clothes are needed to keep out the cold. This is also an urgent need in the north.
Of course, what Emperor Chongzhen cared about the most was the Yongwei camp and the Jing camp, and their winter clothes also had to be prepared.
Third, steel is not iron ore. It is not cost-effective to transport iron ore from the south. It is better to smelt it into steel first.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't even think about building new steel plants in the south, because he couldn't control it. At least he had to build new steel plants in the territory he could really control.
Fourth, it is still a kind of food, which is sweet potatoes. The yield of sweet potatoes in the south is large, but it has not been popularized in the north. It still needs to be shipped in large quantities to the north.
The imperial court's large-scale purchase of sweet potatoes there will greatly stimulate farmers to plant sweet potatoes, further increasing production in the south and accelerating the deployment of sweet potatoes in the north.
As for other purchases, they come at the back.
It's just over 20 million taels, plus the shops, properties, etc. of the top ten salt merchants. With this purchasing power, you can buy anything. The ranking actually doesn't matter much. Anyway, the money will never be used up, and it is estimated that you can buy it for many years.
.
All the money is left in the south, and those in the south will naturally benefit in the end.
With the list in hand, Emperor Chongzhen didn't even take a break and immediately discussed with these ministers how to purchase it!
Before the ministers spoke, he first explained the purchasing methods introduced to him by Liu Weichao, and then handed them over to the ministers for discussion.
However, there is a problem here, that is, these ministers in the Wenhua Palace are basically not proficient in business. Emperor Chongzhen can refute any suggestions he makes, and even challenge them.