If West Chang'an Street is the powerful street of Daming, then Liren Street, which is adjacent to West Long Street, is the commercial pedestrian street of Nanjing City at present.

Its prosperity can be described as a gathering of wealth.

There are entertainment venues such as green houses, restaurants, and gambling stalls, as well as central institutions such as the General Association of Imperial Merchants, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Taxation, and today, there will be two new institutions on this street.

Daming Central Bank and Daming Insurance Association.

In recent years, new departments of the imperial court have sprung up one after another, and the dignitaries and ordinary people in Nanjing do not feel any abruptness, but on the day of the unveiling, the figures of all sizes in Nanjing City can be regarded as gathered.

At the same time, in the west, north and south of Nanjing, a branch was opened in each of the three locations to operate and undertake business, and the central bank of Liren Street was not responsible for specific business.

The head of the central bank was concurrently held by the right attendant of the Ministry of Commerce, but the position of deputy governor was handed over to Grianch, a shrewd businessman from Provence, by Zhu Yunwen.

There is no clear taste, only 800 taels of silver a year.

Even so, it was enough to make Grianch excited, which shows that he successfully stood out from the surviving Europa and began to be accepted by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

It's a leadership position.

At the headquarters of the Bank of China, the wealthy people of the Nanjing Chamber of Commerce began to gradually understand the responsibilities of this new yamen under the introduction of Grianch, and they were very excited about it.

Lending!

How could they, the merchants, one day be able to borrow money from the state?

This is truly the first of its kind.

Although the loan requires collateral and interest, the interest on the money paid from this so-called bank is much less than the private loan between the merchants.

The one-year term is only one hundred and eight, and the five-year term is even lower than one hundred and five.

The scope of pledges is even broader, including houses, acres of land, and industries.

All valuable items can be pledged, and the bank will have a special appraisal department to value according to the market price, and then lend credit according to 80% of the valuation.

As for the other business offered by the banks: savings, it was selectively ignored by these merchants.

They only think about how to make more of the wealth in their hands, and they don't think about how to get the wealth out of their control.

In addition to the lending business provided by the bank, the newly established insurance association also provides a very attractive business for these businessmen.

Commercial insurance.

If these merchants have the business of domestic transportation and overseas trade, then only need to pay a pro-rata insurance premium for the goods, and if these goods capsize in the ship, then the insurance will always pay the full amount of the goods.

The merchants of the Ming Dynasty were not allowed to have private ships to transport them, let alone go to sea.

When they need to deliver goods, they need to go to the transshipment envoy to borrow a ship, and then send their employees and subordinates to follow the ship, and the same is true for overseas trade, all of which go to sea through the ports of Fuzhou and Quanzhou to lease the country's sea ships.

If you can't come back, it means that the ship has capsized and the goods are lost.

Now it's good to have this commercial insurance, if the boat capsizes, then you can get the full insurance payout.

When a businessman's brain encounters a new profit, he will always think about whether there is any loophole, although Da Ming does not have the word deception, but it does not prevent them from thinking of this.

If you think about it, you think it's too difficult.

Because the ship is not theirs.

The ship belongs to the state, and every transport ship and sea ship has a record in the imperial court, sinking and sinking, and there are records of the public servants who pick up and drop off when the ship departs and docks, and if you want to cheat, unless you buy the public officials at the beginning and end of the two points, you also have to buy off all the people who see it in the entire port to shut up.

Then pray that none of them will report it.

Isn't that a fantasy?

Don't even think about the loophole of insurance fraud, these businessmen don't pay much attention to this kind of thing, they just need to know that there is such a commercial insurance now.

The Dinghai God Needle that can make them settle down.

"At present, there are only a few kinds of business, the bank and the insurance association have just been established, and many places have not yet been perfected, so there are only these few things for everyone to choose from."

After Grianch explained, he smiled and mobilized: "Those who want to participate are all customers of our bank and insurance club, we are all welcome, please." ”

A word of please, ignited the atmosphere in the whole meeting room, and the top businessmen in Nanjing City rushed to leave, and they were going to the branch to handle the loan business!

"This is the merchant."

Looking at the empty lobby, Grianch rushed to his side, and his immediate boss stretched out his hands.

"Whether it's in Venice or in Daming. The character of the merchant is the same, they are profit-seeking, bold and greedy, they value every gold coin more than life, they will only borrow from the bank, and they will never save, this is what determines their character. ”

"Is it true that the business of saving is only chosen by the common people and the petty bourgeoisie, that is, the poor put their money in the bank and pray that prices will rise less than the interest they get from saving, while the rich take the wealth of the poor to grab more wealth?"

Du Guangsheng, the right attendant of the Ministry of Commerce, glanced at Grianci and took a sip of his teacup: "In the future, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty will also be like the Venetians in your mouth, holding a lot of bank negotiable bills and shareholding agent contracts to spend all day and wine, spending or they earn, or maybe the savings of the poor, right?" ”

"This is the inevitable law of business, and no one can violate the law of the market and destroy it casually."

Grianch didn't think the situation was bad, and he introduced to Du Guangsheng: "The commercial movement has always been like this, just like a casino, where merchants push everything they have to the table to gamble, and the odds are that some people get rich because of it, while others lose their families.

This is also the charm of business, which is full of unknown risks and hides great wealth, and when the mystery is revealed, death or heaven will be revealed.

About sixty years ago, a huge plague swept through Europa, countless banks went bankrupt, countless merchants chose to hang themselves, and commerce suffered great damage, but when the plague passed, in just a few decades, the Apennines had already taken the lead in recovering, even far more than before the plague.

Do you know my idol, a banker from Prato, his name is Francisco Datini, he is just a poor peasant, he worked as a handyman and apprentice in his youth, but with his extraordinary courage and vision, he became a hot banker in just a few decades.

With branches in Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia and Mallorca, he possessed an innumerable fortune that made a poor peasant even more desirable than the aristocracy. ”

"Big shots?"

Du Guangsheng sneered disdainfully: "A businessman? ”

"You seem to look down on businessmen very much?"

Du Guangsheng's posture seemed to stimulate Grianch, and he said with his teeth and claws: "Believe me, with the foundation of the great empire of the Ming Dynasty, at most twenty years, this country will give birth to a billionaire or even a billion!"

Then you will know the power of wealth, it is not as capable of killing a person as the sword, but it can buy the man who holds the sword.

It can't shelter from the elements, but it can drive people to build countless sheltered houses.

It has the infinite power of demagogy, which can make people repeatedly lower their moral bottom line and even human standards for it.

If you deny its power, then how do you explain that so many officials in previous months threw their heads for it?

Officials are fascinated when they see money, and actors laugh when they see money.

That's the power of money you look down on. ”

Du Guangsheng looked at the foreigner in front of him who was excited at the mention of money, but he felt a chill in his heart.

What Grianch said is indeed true.

Today, the bank is established, what will the Ming Dynasty look like in 20 years?