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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 484: Commercial Finance

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    Business and finance are twin brothers who can never be separated. As early as the 25th year of Daoguang reign, British banks opened branches in China.  British Liru Bank was the first to set up a branch in China.  Its predecessor was the Bank of West India established in 1842. In 1845, it expanded its scale, changed its name, and moved its head office in Mumbai, India to London, England. In April of the same year, it established branches in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and in 1847 it established a branch in Shanghai.  , indicating that the aggressive forces of foreign capital began to advance from south to north.

    At the same time as Liru Bank, Asia Chartered Bank, the predecessor of Benefit Bank, also received the "Royal Charter" from the British government.  Asia Charter Bank established an agency in Shanghai in 1854.  After the Taiping Army occupied Shanghai, due to the further development of industry and commerce, the bank's agency in Shanghai was changed into a branch in 1856.

    The so-called chartered bank, that is, the colonial bank, represents the outward expansion strategy of the emerging British industrial bourgeoisie.  At this time, the Asia Charter Bank was quite different from that in history. Because of Clifford, a member of the Rothschild family, the Rothschild family was very optimistic about the achievements of the Taiping Army in the civil war in the East. They believed that the Taiping Army  The military general will complete the unification of China within a few years, so the Rothschild family quickly adjusts its investment strategy. As a result, a large part of the capital of Asia's chartered banks comes from the British Rothschild family.

    In 1856, France was not willing to be alone and opened a branch of the Bank of France in Shanghai. However, compared with the well-capitalized British Bank, the influence of the French bank was quite small.  During this period, foreign banks took over the exchange business in Sino-foreign trade, buying and selling forward bills while absorbing deposits, handling loans and issuing banknotes in Hong Kong.

    Although foreign banks have already intervened at this time.  But generally speaking, it has little impact on China's financial system. China's financial industry is still in a highly free market form at this time, that is, private capital and banks occupy the entire Chinese financial industry.  Whether it was the Qing court or the Taiping Rebellion, there was no practical way for the government to influence finance.

    As early as the Su Fu New Deal, Xiao Yungui and Hong Yuner had actually considered reforms in banking, banknote issuance and financial services. However, at that time, the Su Fu New Deal involved too many matters, and the West Palace had not yet gained control of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  Right, so I put it on hold for now.  After entering Tianjing and taking over Jiangxi, Anhui and other territories, the West Palace worked hard to stabilize the place and eliminate the impact of the Tianjing Incident.  Therefore, this matter has never been mentioned.

    Now that several months have passed, various places have stabilized and order has been restored.  Su Fu's New Deal also gradually began to be promoted within the Heavenly Kingdom, and the reform of the old Taiping Heavenly Government system was also smoothly launched. It can be said that the conditions and time for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's national financial reform are ripe.

    Hong Rengan¡¯s few words in the Golden Dragon Palace awakened a group of far-sighted people in the palace. Xiao Yungui, Hong Yun¡¯er, Zuo Zongtang and others were not without financial knowledge.  But for months.  They are always entangled in complicated affairs. After the fiscal deficit occurs, Xu Naizhao and others are also obsessed with the authorities. They only think about how to reduce expenditures, and the source of income is limited to considering existing taxes and grain taxes.  Perhaps this is what the saying goes, a wise man will make a mistake after a lot of worries, and a fool will gain something after a lot of worries.

    Hong Rengan did not wait for others to answer, and continued: "Although I have recently arrived in Tianjing, I have also learned about the coins circulating in Tianjing in the past ten months. Since our heavenly kingdom was established as the capital, we have begun to mint coins.  The materials used include gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, etc. The face value is divided into one yuan, five yuan, ten yuan, fifty yuan, etc. The writing style is also quite messy. There are various  When it comes to spending money, the biggest one actually weighs four kilograms, which is extremely inconvenient to use. In Shanghai and other old jurisdictions of Sufu, silver taels and copper coins are mainly used, and foreigners and eagles are commonly used as coins. There are also a lot of them.  It was chaotic, and foreign merchants relied on the convenience of Yingyang's circulation to inflate the price of Yingyang, damaging the business profits of the Kingdom of Heaven. My subordinates believed that the time was ripe to imitate the foreigners, open a bank, collect gold and silver, issue paper currency unified by the Kingdom of Heaven, and  The bank establishes the exchange rate of silver with foreign merchants to prevent foreign merchants from profiting from it. The bank is established immediately, and the coins issued can be circulated. It can also collect private wealth, and the Western King can temporarily borrow money for his expedition, which is to issue national debt.  After the victory, we can repay it after taking the rich lands of Guangdong and Guangxi."

    Although Hong Rengan's idea is still a bit superficial. Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been a country for several years and has minted its own coins, the people have always been accustomed to using gold, silver, copper and other coins. Gathering gold and silver and issuing currency cannot be achieved by just talking.  Yes, looking back on how many twists and turns the Republic of China went through when it abolished the two currencies and changed them to the yuan, finally the silver coins were gradually withdrawn from circulation, which shows how deep-rooted the use of silver coins is by the Chinese people.  At the same time, financial reform is different from other reforms and involves many issues. If banknotes are forcibly issued, social unrest is bound to occur, or it will be used as straw paper like the Qing Dynasty treasure banknotes issued by the Qing Dynasty.

    But Xiao Yungui still said approvingly: "Although Rengan's idea is not very mature yet, it is also a step forward."It provides a direction to solve the problem.  I have often said that those of us who govern must not act arbitrarily, but need to pool our wisdom to find the best way to solve problems.  Banks can be opened, but banknotes do not need to be issued for the time being. This involves a lot of things and needs to be considered in the long term.  But as Rengan said, it is indeed a problem that our heavenly kingdom has too many types of coins and too much confusion. What does the Left Prime Minister think?  "

    Zuo Zongtang thought for a while but said cautiously: "Since ancient times, gold, silver and copper have been used as currency in the country, but now domestic commerce is gradually connecting with foreign countries. Last year, imported goods easily yielded one million taels of silver.  Huge, if things go on like this for a long time, domestic silver will gradually dry up and there will be no silver barter. My subordinates thought that gold should be collected first to solidify the capital. Although gold is also a kind of currency, it is of great value. It is rarely used in transactions and is also rare.  It is feasible to collect most of the gold. Then the silver coins can be converted into silver coins, the fineness can be roughly the same as that of the eagle, and some banknotes of the heavenly treasures can be issued appropriately. The value of the banknotes is equal to the value of the gold. The newly minted silver coins can be used for domestic circulation.  , and the exchange transactions between banknotes and foreign currencies such as Yingyang and British pounds may alleviate the outflow of silver, and silver dollars and banknotes can also be exchanged at equal prices."

    Although Hong Yun'er is knowledgeable in literature and history, she only has a vague knowledge of finance and can't say much. Although Xiao Yungui has done some business and knows some financial knowledge, in this historical environment, what kind of currency reform can be done?  He was not sure whether it was the most suitable and best choice.  But listening to Zuo Zongtang's suggestion, it seems that the gold and silver bimetallic system is implemented, which is still the same as in ancient times, but the only difference is that on the gold standard, due to the scarcity of gold, corresponding banknotes are issued, while silver is changed to silver dollars for circulation in the country, which seems to be certain.  To a certain extent, it can alleviate the problems of silver outflows and domestic currency chaos.

    Wang Kaiyun, Director of the Naval Administration Department of Shanghai, who has had long contact with foreigners, said: "Reforming the Yuan Dynasty and abolishing the Liang Dynasty can be implemented. Shanghai and other places have a lot of Yingyang circulating foreigners. My subordinates suggested that Shanghai and other places should be tried first."  Opening a bank can absorb private funds, but it will inevitably conflict with private banks. In other words, depending on whom the people trust more, they will deposit their money. But now the holy treasury of the Kingdom of Heaven is empty, and it is difficult to use large sums of money.  Bank reserves, if there is a run and the money cannot be exchanged for a while, it will greatly damage the reputation of the new bank. Without trust, the bank cannot be established. "

    Hong Rengan suddenly said: "As for the bank reserve, I heard that there are many rare treasures collected by the people in the East Prince's Palace, the North Prince's Palace and other palaces. They can take them out and auction them off, and they can raise a lot of money."

    Zhu Changling, Secretary of the Department of Commerce, also said: "Private businessmen are also people who are willing to wait and see. Nowadays, many private banks deposit money without profit, just to ensure the safety of money and facilitate large-scale transactions in different places. The new bank of Tianguo can be  For small profits, ordinary people and merchants will definitely transfer large sums of money to the bank for profit. Several large businesses under the Department of Commerce must also transfer money to the bank, and the account department and even the holy bank can also deposit it.  When the common people and businessmen see this, they will definitely follow suit."

    Wei Heling, deputy director of the Department of Commerce, also said: "When the bank was opened, as long as there was deposit, there would be loans. Nowadays, many private and local government projects require money for investment. I believe that after the bank is opened, the loan profits will be enough to support the end of the war between Guangdong and Guangxi."

    Everyone made a rough idea. Xiao Yungui thought for a moment and looked at Hong Yun'er. Hong Yun'er smiled sweetly and shook her head slightly, indicating that she didn't have any better ideas.  Xiao Yungui also knew that she was not good at this, so he stood up and said: "In this case, I have decided to start preparing for the Central Bank of Heaven and establish the Financial Department. Under the Ministry of Accounts, Zhu Changling, Director of the Department of Commerce, will serve as the director. Hong Ren  Gan was transferred to the Finance Department as deputy director. Wei Heling took over as deputy director of the Commerce Department, and Yu Songnian served as deputy director."

    Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captured Songjiang, Yu Songnian saw that the Western Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had always protected private property, and at the same time did not replace state-owned Confucianism with so-called foreign religions, but cleverly linked the two together.  The temple maintains a cooperative relationship.  The Yu family's book collection has also been protected by Xidian Yuxuansi, which makes Yu Songnian even more satisfied.  In the subsequent civil service reform and a series of Su-Fu new policies, Yu Songnian saw the hope of the revival of the Han people, and gradually began to agree that the Kingdom of Heaven would replace the Manchu Qing Dynasty and become Zhengshuo.  The Yu family is engaged in the shipbuilding and shipping industry in Shanghai, and Yu Songnian was elected president of the Shanghai Shipbuilding and Shipping Chamber of Commerce last year.  Subsequently, Wang Kaiyun visited many times, and Yu Songnian finally took up the post of president of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, representing many merchants in Shanghai.

    This year, Yu Songnian began to accept an official position in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Xiao Yungui had always wanted Yu Songnian to join his pirate ship. Now that he had the opportunity, he promoted Yu Songnian to the position of deputy director of the Department of Commerce.

    After the people were selected, Zhu Changling, Hong Rengan and others selected officials who were good at finance to join the Finance Department, and then came up with specific regulations.  The many rare treasures in the East Prince's Palace, the North Prince's Palace, and the Tianwang Palace that Hong Rengan didn't mention were handed over to Wang Kaiyun to prepare for auction. Anyway, those things can't be turned into money and food if left alone, so they might as wellIt is very practical to exchange it for gold and silver. It would be considered a great honor for the people to own something that the prince used. This move would surely raise a lot of money.

    After solving the problem of fiscal deficit, the next step is another important goal this year, which is the deployment of troops to Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan.  (To be continued)

    ps: Due to something happening at home, the update was interrupted in the past few days. I am extremely sorry. The update will be resumed from today. Thank you for your support.
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