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Volume 3: The Wind Rises in the South Chapter 97 Court Controversy 2

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    "Ms. Wang, you can't say that!" Empress Dowager Deng said with a smile: "The firewood and vegetables in my palace are all sent from the imperial village outside the city. The money is just for clothing, makeup and powder. These things are not necessary. I can exchange them for a few at most."  Just wear clothes, what's the point of suffering. Besides, this country belongs to the Gao family. If we, the Gao family, are not willing to take the lead in pledging money, it would be unreasonable for you to have to pay for it.  "The Ai family will send a female official to discuss the matter after they return!" "I am also a member of the Gao family, so I will donate fifteen thousand taels!" Lin Wanqing said with a smile. Unlike Empress Dowager Deng, she has a pen in the inner palace.  As the head of the imperial edict, the eunuch's purse is one of the most generous in the capital of Han Dynasty. It is easy to take out these fifteen thousand taels, but it cannot exceed the Empress Dowager's.  "Okay, now it's almost forty thousand taels!" Empress Dowager Deng said with a smile: "Ms. Qi, please tell me the remaining two moves. I think Yanying's performance is really good for such a big thing.  , we sat down together and talked about it, and it was all thanks to the fact that the late emperor had chosen a few good ministers like me when he was still alive." Several people outside the curtain heard Empress Dowager Deng mentioning the late emperor, and they hurriedly stood up and said in unison: "I don't dare to fail to do my best.  Try your best to repay the kindness of the late emperor!" The reason why these people are able to do this is naturally because of the late emperor's favor and trust. When Empress Dowager Deng mentioned the late emperor, she couldn't help but feel excited.  "The Queen Mother is wise, I will definitely handle this matter when I get back!" Wang Qinian coughed and said to Qi Zhiti: "Master Qi, please continue!" "Yes, Mr. Wang!" Qi Zhiti said: "  The so-called borrowing refers to borrowing money from the provincial governors. As you all know, since the Changmao Rebellion was quelled, the provincial governors have greatly increased their power. It has become a common practice to seize a lot of property and use it as military assets when the army is prosperous.  After that, it will no longer be transferred to the central government, plus other miscellaneous taxes that are temporarily levied, so it is not that the court has no money, but the provinces have money. If the court can borrow several million taels from the provinces, it will be a problem of war money in Myanmar.  In fact, that¡¯s enough!¡± ¡°Yes! That¡¯s what Mr. Qi said!¡± Empress Dowager Deng nodded: ¡°Let the Ai family take part in this matter!  " "The fourth method is to issue bonds. This method is quite simple: issue bonds to wealthy businessmen, and then agree on the annual interest rate and how many years to repay. However, this method requires a pledge, and the interest and principal will be paid in the future.  It has to be paid back with the people's taxes. In the final analysis, we still need to increase taxes!" "Is there any precedent for this method?" "It was used during the Mao Zheng period. It issued bonds to wealthy businessmen, and the wealthy businessmen used salt stamps as collateral to borrow money.  "Well, it's better to think about the method of issuing bonds first!" Empress Dowager Deng sighed: "If the other three methods are used, there will be many problems."  If it doesn't work, let's use the last method! But I heard that the British often use the method of issuing debts. Don't they care about the consequences? " "This!" Wang Qinian and others were stunned by the question of Empress Dowager Deng.  Keqin has been in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs for many years and has considerable experience in finance and taxation. He stood up and replied: "The Queen Mother does not know something. The British have a vast territory and the wealth of the world is gathered in London, just like flowing water, looking for ways to make profits. The British  The government also has a good reputation and has never defaulted on its interest-bearing debt. Therefore, whenever a bond is issued, its merchants are eager to buy it. The interest rate is only three or four cents a year, which is far lower than that in our country. The court can afford it!  "That's it!" Queen Mother Deng sighed: "No wonder it came from behind and became the most powerful country in Haixi. It is particularly unique!" She said with a hint of envy, and she sighed a few times and asked casually.  "Then if we also issue bonds, how much interest will we pay?" Everyone's eyes suddenly focused on Hu Keqin, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue. Hu Keqin also felt the invisible pressure in his eyes. He gritted his teeth.  She said in a deep voice: "Reporting to the Queen Mother, if the imperial court issues debt, I'm afraid it will not be less than six cents a year, and salt stamps will have to be used as collateral." "Ah?" Behind the curtain, Queen Mother Deng couldn't help covering up her instincts  She said, she never expected that there would be such a big difference between Yingshun and Yingshun in the same issuance of bonds. Lin Wanqing on the side quickly interrupted: "Master Hu, why is there such a big gap? Could it be that I made a mistake?  "But Hu Keqin did not hear the intention of Lin Wanqing to change his words, and replied decisively: "Two empresses, although I am incompetent, I have been in the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue for many years. With such wealth,  You can never go wrong when planning something.  "Master Hu, the Ai family has no intention of doubting you, but I just don't understand why the British only need three or four cents for borrowing money, but our Dashun Dynasty requires six cents, which is almost double theirs!" "The Queen Mother has it!  I don¡¯t know, Wei Chen uses an analogy, the same is buying and selling grain. If it is the autumn harvest, the market will be full of new grains, which will naturally be very cheap; but during the spring famine, there will be much less grain on the market, and the price will naturally be lower.  NotThat's okay.  The same goes for borrowing money. The British have money from all over the world in the London market. If the British want to borrow money, they have many choices and naturally pay less interest. However, we in Dashun do not have as much money as the British.  So there are fewer people to borrow money from, so the interest you have to pay is high.  Besides, the British have been issuing bonds for many years, buying and selling equally with merchants, and have a good reputation, but I, Dashun, are much inferior in this regard!  "    "I see!  "Empress Dowager Deng couldn't help but sigh when she heard this. Unlike Empress Dowager Deng, the other people in Yanying Palace are all people with long-standing official career. They can get more information from Hu Keqin's words. Although they have not received modern public education.  Finance education, but in China at the end of the 19th century, the commodity economy in the economically developed southeastern coastal areas was already quite prosperous. A large-scale financial market based on this had already taken shape, and the old agricultural tax, salt and iron tax, customs  The central government, with taxes as its main source of revenue, is increasingly stretched in the face of this increasingly complex external environment. Under this situation, the central government has to find ways to develop new financial resources from all aspects to face various new challenges from both inside and outside.  Under this circumstance, these few people naturally have some simple understanding of some basic public finance knowledge. Hu Keqin just pointed out that the gap in the cost and difficulty of bond issuance between Britain and Shun actually indirectly reflects the differences between the two governments.  There is a huge gap in the government's credibility and financial capabilities. Since the interests of the Shunguo elite group of scholars and the businessmen group with huge wealth do not completely overlap, once the court encounters financial difficulties, it is more inclined to use coercion.  Or obtain the required funds from businessmen through deception. In this way, when a similar situation occurs next time, the Shunguo businessmen who lent money to the government will naturally take into account the previous risks and ask for higher interest and more money.  The "big loans" from businessmen during the "Great Rebellion" in the 1860s and 1870s are a good example. At that time, the Emperor Shun, who had just been defeated by the British, wanted to suppress the "Great Rebellion" in 1851.  The four riots, including the "God Worshiping Society", the uprisings that broke out in Yunnan and Shaanxi in 1856 and 1858, and the Nian Army Uprising in 1853, forced us to borrow money from the richest businessmen at the time. However, the market that was damaged by the war was very short of funds.  Coupled with the bad record in the past, the Shunguo government had to borrow a total of eight million taels of silver from merchants on very harsh terms for military expenses - using the salt tax from Lianghuai and the local levy of gold as collateral to repay the debt.  , and the annual interest rate is as high as 9%, which is a very astonishing figure in the era of precious metals as currency. In China at the end of the 19th century after the Westernization Movement, there were a total of 25 battalions of the Shun Army (Shun Jun's).  The equipment and training of the standing army (battalions are roughly equivalent to divisions in the West) have caught up with the European powers. If the gap in soldiers between the two sides is not taken into account, in fact, the biggest gap between Dashun and the European powers is the government's financial capacity. Dashun  The financial capacity that was still in the semi-modern stage was simply not enough to support his army in carrying out a large-scale modern war. While everyone was meditating, a sweet voice suddenly came from behind the curtain: "The Queen Mother, the Princess, I am my concubine.  I just listened to what the gentlemen said, and suddenly I had some thoughts - " Empress Dowager Deng was overjoyed when she heard this. She knew that Jiang Qingyue, who was speaking, was usually very cautious and taciturn, but if she spoke, she would definitely hit the target, so she hurriedly smiled and said  : "That's the best. Sister Jiang family, please tell me quickly and tell the Ai family and all the adults!"  " "Yes, Your Majesty the Queen Mother!  "Jiang Qingyue saluted Queen Mother Deng, stood up behind the curtain, and said in a deep voice: "The four methods of raising money mentioned by Mr. Hu just now have their own pros and cons. I was inspired by this and came up with another method.  ¡ª¡ªBuy shares!  " "Buy shares?  "    "good!  "Jiang Qingyue replied: "I heard in the palace that the former dynasty went to Nanyang to do business and made huge profits. Often a shipload of goods could be exchanged for half a shipload of silver. However, the journey was dangerous and the risk was very high.  Ships and cargo require large sums of money.  Therefore, businessmen who are familiar with needlework and market conditions have no capital to do business, while wealthy people have no courage or ability to do this business.  So some smart people came up with a way to let everyone pool their money to buy a ship, and then let businessmen who are familiar with the needle and market conditions hold shares in it and sail to Nanyang.  From my point of view, increasing taxes and issuing bonds have many disadvantages. It is better to set up a company first and promise that if the British can be defeated, instead of having the exclusive right to do business and mine in Myanmar, I can also give them the exclusive right to develop the road from Kunming to Myanmar.  He asked him to use these to raise shares, and then the court used the money to pay for the war.  In this way, as long as we win the battle, Myanmar is our vassal country, and everything will be fine; even if we lose, it is only this company that has broken its trust, and it has nothing to do with the imperial court!  I wonder what the queen mother, concubines and princes think?  " Everyone in the curtain exchanged glances with each other and did not express their opinions casually. After all, Jiang Qingyue's suggestion had no precedent, and it was unusual and highly relevant. These people all knew that it was better not to speak casually about things like this.  After about half a moment, Wang Qinian said in a deep voice: "Jiang Nu Shi's method sounds good, but there is no precedent. At this juncture, should we think about it?  " "Mr. Wang, there is a precedent for this, but it's just not in this dynasty!  " There was a sudden silence outside the curtain. These ministers were all well-educated and familiar with the practices of the past dynasties. However, they had no impression of what Jiang Qingyue said. After about half a moment, Wang Qinian hesitated.  Said: "I have never heard of the rules mentioned by Jiang Nu Shi, but they are somewhat similar to the rules of King Jinggong of the Song Dynasty.  " Asking for votes, I didn't pay attention during the Spring Festival. I found out after the test that the recommended votes were extremely painful. It was very painful to be fucked by the ones behind me!
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