In fact, fighting a war is to fight money, weapons and equipment cost money, people eat horses and chew money, and material transportation costs money. Shooting an arrow can cost several cents or even tens of dollars, and after a war, arrows, which are a large number of consumables, do not know how many hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars will be shot. And even if the war is over, the post-war reward for meritorious deeds will cost money, and the disability pension will also cost money, and there will be no war at all without money.

After Yang Jian saw Master Wei's recital, he immediately summoned Master Wei into the palace.

"King Zhao really wants to borrow five million to you?"

"Back to His Majesty, it is the Ministry of Civil Affairs who borrowed 5 million yuan from Daxing Bank." Wei Shi carefully pointed out the mistakes in the emperor's words, showing his professionalism.

Yang Jian didn't care about Wei Shuai's reminder, he frowned and asked, "King Zhao is not joking with you, he really has five million to lend to the imperial court?" ”

"It was the Daxing Bank that lent the money to the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Imperial Court, and the bank also required that the money be earmarked for special use, and it should only be used for this war in the north, and it should not be diverted for other purposes. If the imperial court agrees to this clause, then the Daxing Bank is willing to lend 5 million yuan to the Ministry of Civil Affairs at an annual interest rate of six cents lower than the market interest rate, and all the money will be paid in five installments, one million each time, and the payment will be paid within a month. All the money is paid according to the proportion of silk hardware, three silver and two bronze. ”

"Isn't Daxing Bank the property of King Zhao? This kid, where did he get so much money to borrow. Yang Jian is still a little hard to believe, if it is 50,000, 500,000 he believes it, but he has to take out 5 million guan at once, even if it is the proportion of silk hardware, three silver, two bronze and one payment, but after all, this is also money worth 5 million guan, where did King Zhao get so much money?

After Master Wei returned from Yi Feng. I also did my homework again, so I immediately replied at this time: "Daxing Bank is not owned by King Zhao alone. Many wealthy and large businessmen in Beijing have participated in the shares, and according to the principal of Daxing Bank, there are 5 million yuan. In addition, Daxing Bank not only lends money but also has a savings business, and they attract a large number of people from Beijing to save deposits in the bank at an interest rate three times lower than that of borrowing, and then use the depositors' deposits to lend. In addition, the Daxing Bank of Jingshi is actually just a branch of the Northern Bank, and there are many newly opened banks in the big cities of the world, and the Daxing Bank can transfer money from these banks to complete the large-scale loan business. ”

"The banks everywhere belong to King Zhao?" Yang Jian was shocked when he heard this. A Daxing bank can lend five million at any time, and there are many such banks in various parts of the world. And it's all King Zhao's, which is also a bit too amazing.

Wei Shi replied truthfully: "As far as Weichen knows, there are now about 30 local banks in various places, and they are all branches of the Northern Bank. However, these branches and the head office are independent of each other, there are different shareholders, the head office of the North Bank has shares in each party, which is equivalent to a shareholder of each bank, and there is a more complex set of cooperation models between the branches and the head office, and Wechen is not clear for a while. But. Zhao Wang is the majority shareholder of the Northern Bank, so it can also be said that Zhao Wang is also a shareholder of the local branches. ”

Yang Jian lowered his head and looked carefully at the notes written by Wei Shuai, looking at the clauses on it. After a long time, he closed the chapter and sighed: "At the beginning, King Zhao mentioned yì to me, saying that the local government used public money to lend money. It has long ceased to be a law for the convenience of the people, but has become a harmful act for the people. After I sent someone to investigate. It was found that this was indeed the case, and finally issued a decree prohibiting all localities from lending money with public money. Later, the king of Zhao mentioned yì to me. The Shaofu Temple or the Ministry of Households of the Imperial Court came forward to establish a bank directly under the Imperial Court, absorb the idle funds of the people of the world, and then lend them to the merchants and people in need, benefiting the people and the country. At first, I thought that this was a move to compete with the people for profit, and the court really should not do it, so in the end I did not agree. King Zhao also asked me to let private individuals set up banks and run deposit and loan businesses, and I agreed. It's just that I never thought that in a short period of time, King Zhao would really establish these banks, and they would immediately have such a scale. Today, I want to use money, and the king of a country, the lord of the world, will borrow money from him. ”

Yang Jian sighed and announced King Zhao.

Wang Hai was secretly frightened when he heard it earlier, he thought about it, King Zhao is too bold, even if you have money, don't show it off like this. Didn't you hear that wealth is not exposed, okay, you not only show off, but also show off in front of the emperor. Take the money and lend it to the emperor, and you will have to borrow five million as soon as you repay it, you are really bold and boundless. Aren't you afraid that the emperor will not be happy when he sees you with so much money? At that moment, when he heard that the emperor Xuan Zhao was king, he hurriedly took the initiative to take over this errand task.

Along the way, Wang Hai was worried, King Zhao, it doesn't matter if you die, but don't bother me, our family just invested 100,000 coffins in Daxing Bank a few days ago, and you came out in a blink of an eye, this is to kill me.

He is beginning to regret it now, feeling that King Zhao usually looks at such a shrewd person, why is he so confused now. Don't you know the truth of making a fortune in silence? In previous years, if there was a disaster year, and a large family dared to release grain for disaster relief without permission, it was a crime to buy people's hearts. Now that you are opening a bank, not only have the interest rate been reduced a lot, but also the interest rate has been given to the people who save money like never before, which is already suspected of buying people's hearts, and you still have to lend money to the imperial court, do you still want the face of the imperial court?

As soon as he saw Yi Feng, Wang Hai immediately cried and said with a sad face: "King Zhao, the big thing is not good, it's over!" ”

"Why are the king's chamberlains so in such a hurry, and what is the end of the matter?"

Waiting for Wang Hai to finish the matter in a hurry, Yi Feng smiled unhurriedly: "Don't be alarmed, the emperor's summoning is not necessarily a bad thing, and let me go to face the saint, believe me, it will be fine." Even if something happens, I will never involve the king's chamberlain. ”

Yi Feng entered the palace, and as soon as Yang Jian saw him, he shouted: "When the country is using troops, there is a shortage of money and food, since you have money, why don't you give it to the country, but you have to borrow it, and you have to charge interest, and you have to stipulate that this money is used like this, and even dare to ask me to take a mine mortgage?" ”

When Yi Feng saw the emperor's appearance, he knew in his heart that there would be no big trouble in this matter. At that moment, he respectfully saluted the emperor, and then said slowly: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid I have misunderstood." ”

"Misunderstanding, what misunderstanding, didn't you tell Master Wei that you would lend him five million, where did the misunderstanding come from."

Wei Shi rolled his eyes on the side, and said in his heart, Emperor, you are planting me. When have I ever said such a thing, I have reminded you several times. said that the money was lent to the Ministry of Civil Affairs by the bank, why do you always say that King Zhao lent it to me? What am I going to borrow money for, let alone five million.

Yi Feng stood up solemnly, straightened his robe, and then explained slowly.

"Your Majesty, first of all, it was Daxing Bank that lent money to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and secondly, Daxing Bank is not my private own. I am just a shareholder of Daxing Bank, which is a private business. Specializing in savings and loans, custody and redemption and other businesses, it has been established with the investment of many shareholders, and its business model is also mainly to attract depositors' funds and then lend them to borrowers. Therefore, the 5 million yuan to be lent to the Ministry of Civil Affairs this time is not mine, nor is it the private money of the bank's shareholders, but is actually the deposit of depositors absorbed by the bank. As for the Ministry of Civil Affairs' use of mines as collateral, it is also to reduce risks. In the final analysis, it is to ensure the safety of those depositors' deposits. ”

"Hmph, speculation, exploitation, profiteers." Yang Jian made a definition with a gloomy face. "You are like this, absorbing people's deposits at low interest rates, and then raising interest rates to lend them to borrowers. Even the lender has to take the mortgage, and so on. You don't have to take the slightest risk and sit on the interest. Money begets money, money begets money, a bunch of profiteers. ”

Yang Jian has always had no good impression of merchants, which is the same as many rulers in the past, thinking that merchants are not like farmers who cultivate and weave cloth to create zào value, but only rely on buying low and selling low to make profits, and they have not created zào value at all, so they have always had no good impression of merchants, merchants are not allowed to wear silk clothes, merchants have a low status, and even Yang insisted that the emperor and queen also made a special decree that merchants and craftsmen are not allowed to hold official positions above the ninth grade, which is equivalent to squeezing out industry and commerce in the ruling class.

In Yi Feng's view, Yang Jian's vision is as narrow as many scholars in this era, and his will not to allow businessmen to be officials is as unreasonable as his edict a few years ago that he decreed that no concubines of officials above the fifth rank should be allowed and the wives of officials above the ninth rank should be remarried. But on the other hand, he also somewhat understands the concept of Yang Jian and others, in their eyes, it is best that the people in the world are self-sufficient in male farmers and female weavers, and even guard their own land for generations, and never leave the radius of ten miles for the rest of their lives, so that the court and the government are of course easy to manage. If everyone is mobile, then management will be troublesome. They are even worried that if everyone is like a businessman who pursues profits, then the stability of society will be lost.

In the final analysis, this is actually the limitation of this era, after all, it is the Middle Ages, an era of pure agriculture, and the era of extremely poor materials.

But Yi Feng still can't accept this concept.

"Your Majesty, no farming, no stability, no work, no wealth, no business, no life. Agriculture is the foundation of society, and without a stable supply of agricultural products, society cannot stabilize itself. Industry is the main industry of social wealth creation, and if industry is underdeveloped, the social economy is underdeveloped. Commerce is the carrier of economic circulation, and without commerce, the economy cannot circulate. Therefore, agriculture and industry are all very important and indispensable. For example, if there are no craftsmen to provide good tools, then farmers will not be able to increase their productivity in farming. Grain is grown, but if there are no merchants to help them sell it, then their grain will only rot at home, and they will not be able to exchange it for other things they need. Majesty, there are hundreds of millions of people in the world, no one can really achieve self-sufficiency completely out of society, everyone is a part of this society, people perform their duties, scholars manage the world for the Son of Heaven, farmers cultivate grain and weave and spin, craftsmen build houses to build tools, merchants circulate the produced food tools everywhere, this is a complete society, every link is very important and indispensable. ”

When Yang Jian heard this, he felt a little impressed with Yi Feng, but even so, he still felt in his heart that in the social class, scholars were high, farmers were producers, and craftsmen and merchants, who made and sold, were not as important as scholars and farmers. The most important point is that he feels that the imperial court borrowing money from businessmen is very shameless and undignified.

Yi Feng saw Yang Jian's thoughts, and said: "In fact, if the imperial court needs capital turnover, it does not need to borrow from the bank, nor does it need to raise taxes to the people, there is a good solution. ”

"What else can you do?" Yang Jian also knew that the imperial court did need money at the moment, but in his concept, there was really no other good way except to increase war taxes, or to tax or borrow money from the rich, and it couldn't be the same as in the Han Dynasty, when the imperial court was short of money, he would sell his official position, and he couldn't do that kind of thing.

"It's simple. Treasury bonds can be issued by the imperial court to the private sector, and the amount of the bonds is indicated on the bonds, as well as the maturity and interest. It is purchased by the people, and after the expiration date, the court will pay back the principal with interest. For example. The imperial court could now issue 5,000,000 yuan of bonds, with a term of three years, an annual interest rate of eight cents, and the amount of the bonds could be printed in the form of a consistent one or one hundred yuan. ”

The issuance of bonds was a fairly common practice in later generations.

But for Yang Jian and Wei Shi, this is a rather novel mention. Yang Jian thought about it for a while and felt that this was a good idea, and it was more decent to issue bonds to the people of the world than to borrow money from businessmen in banks. But. He has some questions about the interest rate of bonds, "If you borrow from a bank with an annual interest rate of six cents, why does the annual interest rate of bonds become eight cents, but it is two cents more?" "The interest rate of two cents, 5 million yuan for three years, that is, 300,000 yuan, borrowing 900,000 yuan interest from the bank for three years, and now issuing bonds with interest of 1.2 million yuan for three years, a lot of money.

Easy wind stall stall hands. "At present, the interest rate on bank deposits is four cents per year, and if bonds are issued, the three-year term must be at least double the interest on deposits. To know. In banks, loans are essentially three times the interest on the same deposit. The previous six-cent annual interest rate of Daxing Bank was because of special events. It was the bank's support for the imperial court's war in the north. But if it is a bond issued, it is claimed by the people spontaneously. The imperial court can't expect every citizen to have such a big picture, right? ”

"But they only keep their money in the bank at a four-cent interest rate." Yang Jian expressed dissatisfaction.

"But people don't have to keep their money in the bank, they can also use it to invest. To expand production, it is likely that the income will be higher. ”

At this time, Wei Shi stood aside and asked, "If the imperial court issues bonds with an annual interest rate of eight cents, will Daxing Bank subscribe to it?" ”

Yi Feng nodded, "We will definitely subscribe for a part, this is a very stable investment, although the yield may be lower than the loan, but the risk is also low, for the bank, this is a healthy investment plan." ”

Yang Jian's beard couldn't help but tremble when he listened, and it was faceless to borrow money directly from the bank, but if this kind of bond was issued, not to mention the trouble, the bank could buy it at that time, and the court was busy for a long time, which was equivalent to borrowing money from the bank, but it was a lot more interest than a direct loan.

After weighing the gains and losses, Yang Jian felt that it was more cost-effective to borrow directly from the bank, although he was a little unhappy, but after all, it was a difference of 300,000 yuan.

The loan agreement was finally signed, Wei Shi patted the contract on his hand, and said to Yi Feng: "From now on, King Zhao will be the creditor of our Ministry of Civil Affairs." ”

"Don't say that, it should be said that Daxing Bank will be a service provider of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in the future."

"Service provider, that's a good statement." Wei Shi's face was a lot happy, and he got a loan of five million yuan at once, Wei Shi immediately felt that his waist bag was bulging, and at the same time, his waist pole was also much straighter. "King Zhao's plan, how much money is needed, you directly draw up a fold, and I will do it for you immediately."

Yi Feng shook his head, "Seeing that Da Si Nong is also hard for this money, I am embarrassed to reach out to you again." On the medical plan side, I don't need to pay for the big Si Nong, I can handle it myself. ”

Wei Shi was stunned, "Really? ”

"Don't." Yi Feng said resolutely, in fact, he had already planned for his own business, although it did require a lot of money, but it did not necessarily have to rely on the Ministry of Civil Affairs to draw money. And don't look at Wei Shi just got a loan of five million, but according to what he observed, he was afraid that it would be very difficult for him to really get a satisfactory amount from Wei Shi. In that case, then why bother so much again, just solve it yourself.

"Didn't King Zhao say that the public is public and private, and he won't go to the bank for a loan?"

"It's not just a loan." Easy wind's unfathomable way.

Wei Shi was a little puzzled, "King Zhao, aren't you in charge of the procurement of medical drugs for this war, you don't have money, how can you procure?" ”

"I have my own way."

After sending Wei Shi away, Yi Feng immediately asked his subordinates, the newly established temporary department, to start their work, and asked them to announce the list of official procurement items to Gyeonggi and the prefectures and counties, so that all businessmen who wanted to cooperate with the imperial court officials immediately signed up and came to Beijing to participate in the bidding.

This is a large purchase order, although it is only responsible for the procurement of medical drugs, it is still not small. After all, this is an army of 500,000, and there are even medical supplies including multiple civilian preparations. For the battlefield first-aid kit alone, Yi Feng ordered a million copies, and there was also a larger number of medicine lists. All of them, Yifeng has been divided into categories and made into a small project with hundreds of items, which is a purchase order worth no less than one million.

But Yi Feng clearly knows that after the announcement is issued, there will definitely be many businessmen to apply for the bid, they will not only see the million amount of the purchase order, this procurement is not a hammer deal, this is a beginning, and more importantly, if this time can get in touch with the government and become the designated drug supplier of the imperial court and military as stated in the official document, it will be the biggest benefit.

It is precisely with this self-confidence that Yi Feng dared not to withdraw money from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but had the confidence to complete this pharmaceutical purchase order.

"Participate in politics, the official document has been issued to all states and counties, what will you do next?" In the official hall, Yi Fengxin recommended the appointment of the Jin Wangfu Pawn, please ask.

Yi Feng raised his head and beckoned to the young pawn: "It's the Dharma Master, come, sit down and rest, how about it, you are still used to what you are doing here, right?" ”

Li Mi nodded a little stiffly and replied: "Li Mi thank King Zhao for his appreciation and kindness, everything is good here, it's all good." (To be continued......)