Chapter 394 Tongzhi's Personal Reign
Chapter 394 Tongzhi's Personal Reign
"Wen's Bank has been established for eleven years, but it has never been upgraded to a bank. We dare not carry out many businesses because we lack people who understand international finance."
"You don't know how to do this. No matter how much money you make, it will be eaten up by those ruthless guys."
"As for your uncle, I have robbed a lot of money, and I have earned a lot of commissions by helping others to rob and eat. There are hundreds of millions of taels of silver lying in the account, and I dare not touch it."
"If I invest and lend, I'm afraid I won't be able to get it back. Even if I can get it back, what if I need the money at a critical moment?"
"I have always wanted to build my own bank, and I am just waiting for someone who understands it. I appoint you, Xiao Kong, as the supervisor of Wen's Bank, and you will be fully responsible for the upgrade of the bank to a bank."
Xiao Kong's full name is Kong Muyu, with the courtesy name Ziyuan. He is the most calm and magnanimous of the five overseas students. Shao Quanzhong entrusted him with an important task, but he was neither excited nor refused, and bowed slightly.
"Uncle, in fact, Wen's bank has opened in London, which is already a modern bank. What I can do is to establish a set of investment evaluation and risk assessment systems, and a strict approval and supervision system, so that we can lend, invest, and conduct international business."
"That's easy. Banks are not places to save money, but credit institutions. If you want to lend out money to earn interest, invest it to make a profit, and still have money to use at critical moments, it's very simple, just print money."
"So, uncle, if you want to circulate wealth and maximize your profits, the most important thing is to obtain the right to issue currency."
This sounds like a wise man, no wonder the Rothschilds are trying to get the right to issue currency everywhere. Alfonso openly paid me 120 million francs a year, but it was just paper, he got something for nothing.
"I can get the right to issue currency from the Qing Dynasty, but if Wen's Bank prints money, it seems that people will easily gossip about it."
"That's easy. We will solely own Wen's Bank and make profits by lending money. Then we will set up a joint venture bank under the name of the government. Uncle, you can bring in all the forces you need to become shareholders."
"You don't even need to be a majority shareholder. As long as you cross-hold shares with other shareholders' investment companies, outsiders won't be able to tell that you are the one making the final decision behind the scenes."
"The government bank is responsible for issuing banknotes, and Wen's Bank is responsible for making money, but you actually control both banks."
"When you need money, you can borrow any amount of money from the government bank immediately. You don't need to hoard so much silver..."
Shao Quanzhong was speechless. "Come on, I won't understand you if you keep talking. Just be loyal to me."
"How about this? I recommend you to be the head of the Ministry of Revenue. You will be responsible for setting up a government bank. I will provide you with a list of Shao's direct descendants and friendly forces. You can contact them and set up a government bank or cross-shareholding."
Kong Muyu became a sixth-rank official in the blink of an eye, rising to the top in one step, but no one was jealous. Not to mention his ability, even if you look at his family, it's nothing.
"Now I have only one question. When we issue banknotes, what standard should we use? Banknotes must be redeemable for precious metals, otherwise there will be no credit. Should they be linked to gold or silver?"
Aren't you making things difficult for me? How can I understand this?
Xiao Kong knew that Shao Quanzhong didn't understand, so he continued to explain with a smile, "The gold standard has a stable currency value. The pound, franc, and mark are all pegged to gold."
"Silver is now being produced in greater and greater quantities, and Spain's large-scale mining of silver in the Americas has caused the value of silver to depreciate."
"The dollar was originally pegged to silver, and was going to be pegged to gold. But the United States had just discovered several large silver mines, and the capitalist mine owners pushed the government to adopt the silver standard for their own benefit, causing the dollar to continue to depreciate..."
"You mean, we should also allow banknotes to be exchanged for gold?"
"No, I suggest we adopt the silver standard."
How can this be the opposite of what is expected? Money becoming less valuable doesn’t sound like a good thing.
"Our Qing Dynasty is now realizing industrialization. With the support of four countries, including the newly joined Austro-Hungarian Empire, we will soon become the largest producer of industrial products."
"If the Chinese Yuan depreciates against foreign currencies, it won't have much impact on our domestic transactions, but our goods will be more competitive when we export them abroad, and Chinese industrial products will quickly occupy the global market. The continued depreciation of the currency is very beneficial to export-oriented countries..."
"Okay, the Qing Dynasty will still use silver, so banknotes must be exchangeable for silver dollars, right?"
"That's right. When the time comes, we will banish the Eagle Dollar and mint our own silver dollars, and we can print my uncle's portrait on them."
Shao Quanzhong's head was spinning like a rattle. "No, please don't. I can't stand this. You can print anyone, but please don't print me."
Gosh, I don’t understand finance, but I do know that someone printed a lot of money and then became emperor for 83 days and then was finished. This is unlucky. I’d never mind dealing with Shao Datou.
…………
London, 10 Downing Street. Prime Minister Braxton welcomed Robert Hart, the Inspector General of Customs of the Qing Dynasty, who returned to report on his duties.
Hart was appointed as a high-ranking official of the second rank by the Qing Dynasty, but he was still a British citizen.
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I have lived up to the trust of the British Empire and established a modern customs management system for Qing, including taxation, statistics, port dredging, and quarantine, so that the Empire can monitor the economic operation of Qing at any time."
"This is a list of Qing's tax revenues over the past two years. The reason I came back now to urgently report on my duties is because Qing's trade surplus with the Empire has reached a point where the Empire has to intervene."
The Prime Minister picked up Hurd's rigorous table and stared at it for a long time. "Qing's industrial exports have not increased significantly. The only bright spot is the income of Huaxia Telecom, which has brought a 2% increase in Qing's tax revenue."
"I think it's all due to Shao's luck and it doesn't represent anything."
"Your Excellency, this is more than just luck."
"Shao is a leader who is very willing to invest in science and technology. In the past two years, Shao has given unreserved support to the inventions and innovations of the genius Meucci, providing him with both people and money."
"Although Maxwell's Cavendish Laboratory, which he established at the Hailing Xiaoxiangya Academy of Sciences, has not made any breakthroughs in its research on electromagnetism, a large number of talented people have helped Meucci research telephone technology, and in just two years, telephone technology has made great progress."
"Since the carbon transmitter was invented half a year ago, Huaxia Telecom has completely monopolized the telephone business around the world, which has brought Huaxia high and continuous profits."
"Let's not talk about this for now. Qing's tax revenue has been growing rapidly at a rate of more than 10% in the past two years. The empire must pay enough attention to it."
"In fact, because they have implemented tax breaks for industrial investment in Germany, France and the United States, the actual growth of their industries is much higher than what is shown in the data."
Prime Minister Braxton waved his hand. "It doesn't matter. This is the short-term result of the four countries' aid to Qing. Oxford experts have drawn up the expected development curve of Qing's industry based on economic models. This high growth rate cannot last long - huh?"
"Prime Minister, you finally figured it out, didn't you? Qing's agricultural tax revenue is the focus of my report this time."
"They have now become the largest exporter of Ruyi Cream, and the growth has been particularly rapid in the past two years. This has not only caused damage to the health of the subjects of the empire, but is also the main reason and culprit for the trade surplus between Qing and Britain."
Braxton laughed at himself. "We fought two wars at the request of merchants and finally got the Qing Dynasty to open up the opium market. But in the end, we didn't expect the agricultural potential of the Qing Dynasty. The production of Ruyi Cream in our country has been hit very hard."
"No, we must take effective action immediately to stop this situation from continuing."
…………
January 26, the twelfth year of the Tongzhi reign, Forbidden City, Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The seventeen-year-old Emperor Tongzhi sat on the throne, with his ministers paying homage in front of the hall. Behind him, the curtain where the Empress Dowager held court was removed.
The day of taking power has finally arrived. At the grand court meeting, the little emperor could not contain his excitement. I can finally show my talents.
A eunuch ran over hurriedly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, it's bad, Prince Rui has entered the palace."
The emperor stood up and asked, "How many soldiers did you bring?"
"He didn't have many soldiers, but he brought envoys and important officials from seventeen countries!"
The ministers who were congratulating him on his new reign were suddenly thrown into confusion.
The emperor was in power and did not invite Prince Rui, a powerful official, to come. Wouldn't it be better for him to live in seclusion in Hailing?
They suddenly came at this time, and brought so many foreigners again, this——
The little emperor trembled all of a sudden. Could it be that -
With the sound of military boots, Shao Quanzhong, followed by armed guards, strode into the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
(End of this chapter)