In April 1925, ancient China, which had just emerged from the catastrophe of a civil war and revolution, suddenly found that another sudden disaster had struck almost overnight.

The run is about to begin.

Not just China Commerce Bank, but almost all banks are now facing a run. The reason why it is almost is because there are a few exceptions, such as those banks of Nanyang Capital and Guangdong Capital in Liangguang and Fujian that did not have a run, and now they have long since implemented fiat currency, and they have long since lost the right to issue banknotes, and naturally no one has come to them to cash out. As the victors of the war, the banknotes they printed still maintained their credibility for the time being, and did not become a piece of waste paper. In addition, the paper money issued by the newly opened Soviet Bank was not cashed either, because it was the most advanced "paper standard" and could not be cashed at all.

The run first broke out in Yanjing and Tianjin. Well, it's not Luo Yaoguo's conspiracy. As soon as his order reached Yanjing, the merchants and shops in the market began to refuse to accept most bank bills.

There are two initiators of this crisis, one is the collapsed Cao Kun and Wu Peifu's direct Beiyang political axe. The second was the Kuomintang authorities, who were self-proclaimed in South China and enforced fiat currency.

For a long time, China's banking industry has been playing a game of exchanging banknotes for public bonds with the Beiyang political axe. To put it simply, the bank used the printed banknotes in exchange for the public bonds printed by the Beiyang political axe. Hehe, it's really too much, can't the Beiyang political axe print some banknotes and spend them by himself? Why go around the loop?

That's because at that time, all banks had the right to issue money, and their reputation seemed to be higher than that of the political axe, and the common people did not recognize the banknotes printed by the political axe, but trusted the commercial banks. Thus, this trick of exchanging public bonds for banknotes began to be staged. Of course, this trick is mainly played by the banks controlled by the bureaucratic capital of the Beiyang family, such as the Bank of Communications, the China Commerce Bank, the Huizhong Bank, the Yanjing Commerce Bank, the Beisi Bank, and so on.

Cao Kun and Wu Peifu's political axe relied on this method to raise military funds from the banks to support their wars, and if they won and unified China, the bonds in the hands of these banks might still be guaranteed. However, it is a pity that this time the invincible Wu Peifu was planted, so a large number of financial institutions in Yanjing and Tianjin also had to suffer together.

However, the bad debts of public bonds are only one of the origins of this run, and if it were not for the fiat currency policy of the Kuomintang in another origin, they would probably have survived this crisis. After all, these colorful papers are beautifully printed, and the numbers on them are said to be able to be exchanged for the ocean. In addition, these banknotes were an indispensable lubricant for China's economic activities at that time, and without their circulation, it is inconceivable what the entire trade and circulation would become. Unless a new and more powerful banknote emerges to replace them, such as fiat money. This historically notorious guy looks pretty good for credibility right now. The territory of the Kuomintang in this time and space is quite large, and it is backed by the reading power tariff area and various taxes that are extorted and extorted, which does not seem to be much worse than those banks, and the greater advantage of the fiat currency is the gun behind it, although these guns cannot clear the silver dollar, but it is still very effective against the banknotes issued by other banks that are also paper.

Add the two, and the crisis erupts naturally. As a result, when thousands of Chinese woke up one morning in April 1925, they suddenly found that they were about to fall into a hunger strike, and the few or a dozen colorful banknotes in their pockets were almost about to become print. Because from this day on, the shops, restaurants, and liquor stores that were engaged in trading began to refuse to accept these banknotes issued by the commercial banks.

Banknotes have lost their circulation, so what good are they? Do you put it at home as a painting or do you use it to light a cigarette? It seems that it is most appropriate to cash in silver dollars. In this way, there were already long queues at the gates of most of the Chinese-funded banks on the ground in Yanjing Tianjin, and thousands of small depositors had to cash in the few banknotes they had in their hands.

……

A few days later, a run on the Far East began in Shanghai, the largest industrial and commercial city and financial center in the Far East.

Shiliyangchang, the Bund, the old building of the Bank of China. Zhang Jiaguang stood on the roof of the bank building and looked down, and there was a black crowd of people, extending from the gate of the Bank of China, and there was no way to see the edge. These are depositors with a few or dozens of Bank of China banknotes, who used to be the god of the bank and are now the bank's talisman.

"Gongquan, everything will be fine." Song Hanzhang's slightly hoarse voice sounded: "Didn't we survive back then?" Our Bank of China will not fail, public power, you must not think about it. ”

"Hahaha————" Zhang Jiaxuan laughed miserably: "Mr. Song, do you think I'm going to jump off the building?" Hehe, I jumped off the building, and those depositors won't run? If I jump off the building, the Kuomintang will let go of the Bank of China? Mr. Song, the problem now is not that our Bank of China will fail, but that the entire Chinese banking industry will not be able to hold on. ”

Song Hanzhang stared at the crowd of black presses, and sighed softly: "We can't fight the Kuomintang after all, their strength is now beyond our imagination." Just by their words, now our banknotes are no longer able to circulate in the southern market. Calculating the time, these issued banknotes have almost flowed back to Shanghai from all over the country, and now they are all looking for us to exchange for silver dollars. Public power, how much cash do we still have in our hands, and how long can it last, have you calculated? ”

Zhang Jiaxuan frowned tightly and was silent for a long time before muttering: "The cash reserves in our hands are about 10 million silver dollars, in addition to the public bonds of 10 million yuan of Beiyang political axe, which is also our talisman now!" This time it is not the crisis of our Bank of China, but the crisis of the entire Chinese banking industry, the central government is bankrupt, and the banknotes cannot be circulated, hehe, how long can it last? ”

"10 million Beiyang public bonds!" Song Hanzhang's mouth was bitter for a while, this bad debt really cost the lives of these shareholders of the Bank of China. In the present situation, it is only a matter of time before the Bank surrenders to the right wing of the Kuomintang, but on what terms it surrenders it can still be achieved. And this 10 million public debt accounts for almost half of the capital of the Bank of China. In other words, if the national government wants to inject capital, it only needs 10 million to obtain a controlling stake in the Bank of China.

The China Commerce Bank building not far from the Bank of China building was already locked at this time, and more than a dozen red-headed Ah San were holding truncheons and leading wolf dogs to maintain order at the gate, and countless depositors who were almost crazy gathered at the gate with banknotes and passbooks in their hands crying, shouting, and scolding. They just want to get back a little bit of life money, and a few dozen dollars is often the life savings of these people, and now it is about to become zero.

In the manager's office of Commerce Bank, several major shareholders are holding an emergency meeting around Fu Xiao'an, the general manager. Discussing the question of whether or not to go bankrupt, unlike the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications, which are still stiff, the China International Commercial Bank was originally an empty shelf for foreign power and middle cadres, and yesterday the branches in various places were closed and the exchange was suspended, and today it is finally the turn of the head office.

Fu Xiao'an, the general manager, relied on the support of the Beiyang warlords to sit on this chair for more than ten years. Therefore, the stammering of the Beiyang political axe is also more than that of other banks, and the public debt of the Beiyang political axe smashed in the hand will naturally not be a small amount. Now Beiyang has changed masters, and the south is the world of the Kuomintang. Is there any way out for China Commerce Bank other than to collapse? Everyone looked at Yu Qiaqing, one of the major shareholders, because he convened today's meeting.

Yu Qiaqing picked up the cigar in his hand and took a puff gently, exhaled a faint cloud of green smoke, and smiled very satisfied: "Du Yuesheng came to me this morning and said that someone was willing to pay for this plate." You can still get back 20% of the share capital in your hand, how about it, it's better than losing your capital, right? ”

"Someone willing to take the plate?" Fu Xiao'an was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood what was going on, he shook his head and sighed: "It's someone from the Kuomintang side, right?" It turns out that they have done so many tricks just to pick up our bank. ”

"yes." Yu Qiaqing didn't hide it, but nodded and admitted: "Du Yuesheng has now defected to the Kuomintang and made a major general to the council, and now he is coming to talk to me on behalf of others, and he is willing to pay 600,000 yuan to take over the bank, this is better than nothing, right?" "Indeed, it is better than nothing, and Yu Qiaqing has already received the inside information that the Kuomintang is going to support the top ten banks, so not only will he not sell his shares this time, but he will also come up with a large amount of additional investment.

Fu Xiao'an, who didn't understand the inside story, quickly calculated in his heart that the current problems of the bank are the depletion of cash reserves and the bad debts of public debts. If we do not count these bad debts, the net assets of the banks are now at least four million, and if we count the three million public debts, which are almost waste paper, then the net assets of the banks are only one million. And the banks simply don't have enough cash to exchange banknotes, so sooner or later they will be liquidated. At that time, your investment will definitely be lost.

Thinking of this, knowing that the matter was irreparable, Fu Xiao'an did not hesitate, but nodded with difficulty: "I support the bank out, how many times will everyone get back, this love is my Fu Xiao'an, I can't help you, I'm really sorry." ”