Chapter 97 Royal Bank

Yes. Zhou Mengchen just said it right. The Zhang family would rather make some economic benefits for Zhang Siwei's career. If the money could make Zhang Siwei promote step by step, the Zhang family would have been ruined long ago.

No, Zhou Mengchen sometimes doesn’t know if the Zhang family has failed? After all, Zhang Siwei ranked low in the imperial examination, but became a Shujishi. You should know that the Shujishi exam is even stricter than the imperial examination. Zhou Mengchen doesn’t know whether it was Zhang Siwei’s performance for a long time or something else.

Therefore, Zhang Siwei advocated that the bank's Treasury Debt Department would definitely have strong support from Shanxi merchants, and Shanxi merchants would even take the initiative to pay taxes. There would be no tax problems.

However, Zhou Mengchen was too clear that bureaucrats who had the power to control economic policies did not need to make money from the money they handled. They just needed to make some adjustments to economic policies.

Zhou Mengchen didn't believe that Zhang Siwei couldn't understand it.

After all, Zhang Siwei once became Zhang Juzheng's deputy. After Zhang Juzheng's death, he could still serve as the chief minister. How could such a person be a fool?

The longer it was in ancient times, the more Zhou Mengchen discovered something. If he had not eaten school meals for more than ten years in later generations, he thought he had studied hard for a while and had not empowered him by modern education. It would be too different for him to be compared with the ancient heroes.

However, after Zhou Mengchen weighed the pros and cons, he finally chose Zhang Siwei.

There are several considerations in the following aspects. The first aspect is to give Yang Bo a reassurance.

Yang Bo has now started preparing for Ding You. Zhou Mengchen estimated that Yang Bo's Ding You's memorial was still in progress. At this time, Zhou Mengchen needed to give some expression to the Shanxi merchants to ensure that the cooperation between the two parties can continue. After all, the Shanxi merchants will be Zhou Mengchen's money bag for a long time in the future.

There are some goodwill to the Shanxi merchants. As for other issues, it will not be too late to talk about them in the future.

The second aspect is Zhang Siwei's ability. The establishment of the bank's Treasury Debt Department is a very difficult thing. Zhou Mengchen is confident that he can do it well. But as mentioned before, Zhou Mengchen cannot do everything by himself. Zhang Siwei is the most suitable candidate. Zhou Mengchen provides a plan for Zhang Siwei to implement it. With the cooperation of Shanxi merchants, it is the most appropriate way.

After all, no matter how many hidden dangers there will be in the future, Zhou Mengchen first needs to consider that if this matter is done, even if some hidden dangers are done, even if this matter is not done, no matter how perfect the previous idea is, it will be just a flower in the water and a moon in the mirror.

Jiajing never thought about it. Zhou Mengchen had thought so much. This was the first time he heard Zhang Siwei's name. After all, there were Jinshis and Shujishis before. It sounded a lot, but there were more than 300 Jinshis in three years and more than 30 Shujis in three years. The accumulation was quite considerable. If Jiajing had been in his early years, he might have thought about whether there were talents among Shujishis. But now, Jiajing has long been no longer interested.

Jiajing thoughtfully said, "In this way, Zhang Siwei is suitable."

Zhou Mengchen said: "Your Majesty is not inferior to your Majesty." With Jiajing's words, Zhang Siwei's promotion route is different from that in history. In history, Zhang Siwei actually lived in the Hanlin area for a long time before he gradually grew up. Now, after three years, he was disbanded from the Shujishi Pavilion, he was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue as the head of the Bank's Treasury Department. I don't know which direction he will go in the future.

However, Zhang Siwei is now considered a person on Zhou Mengchen's line.

Seeing that Jiajing didn't speak, Zhou Mengchen knew that Jiajing didn't care much about the specific bank's regulations, so he turned the topic to the railway and said: "I think that railways, water transportation, posts and other mails should be merged together. A department is set up under the Ministry of Industry, called the Transportation Department. It is mainly in charge of official roads, water transportation, and railway planning. In the construction of railways, it can be divided into main lines and branch lines. The main lines must be built by the court and can be rented to merchants at most, but the branch lines can be built by merchants and managed by themselves. The railway fees-----"

"Okay." Jiajing said: "Who do you think it's better to leave this matter to?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "Pan Jixun."

Jiajing said, "That's him." In his tone, there was a strong perfunctory smell, which could be seen as long as you were not blind. Jiajing was not interested in railways. He knew that railways were important, but in his heart, railways were not important.

Zhou Mengchen was helpless in the face of this situation. In fact, the establishment of the Transportation Department has been a minor adjustment, because the post office was in the Ministry of War, that is, the military part has some functions in the hands of the Ministry of Works, so the strength of the Ministry of Works will be greatly increased.

The arrangement of Pan Jixun was also the one Zhou Mengchen could choose, and he was the one he had to carry.

Pan Jixun's ability is not enough. He can see that Pan Jixun is not only capable, but also opposes the popularization of new technologies. Pan Jixun even feels like a technological flow. He has taken up a position in the Ministry of Industry and worked on the canal again, and has been in charge of an important department, which is also a promotion.

Zhou Mengchen had already thought about a lot of things to explain Pan Jixun's talent and ability. However, Jiajing didn't even ask questions.

Jiajing said: "I actually want to ask something today. There is a bank in the northwest. Beijing also needs a bank. The royal family has some money in the warehouse, which is not a solution. I want to run a bank, but I don't know where to start. I also ask Zhou Qing for some advice."

Zhou Mengchen was slightly stunned, and he instantly figured out all the problems.

Why is Jiajing so anxious to ask for the bank's articles of association instead of caring about the specific content of the bank's articles of association?

Nothing else, Jiajing wanted to make money from the banking industry, but he was the emperor after all. He could not do anything randomly. The Yellow River Bank could be said to be an exception before. Jiajing's bank could also be an exception, but it would not be easy to deal with in the future, which would be detrimental to maintain the authority of the court. Therefore, he simply asked the people below to make some more urgent and get the bank's charter out.

Naturally, he didn't care what was in the bank's charter. No matter what was there, could he still control Jiajing?

As for the railway regulations, it is simply by the way.

Jiajing was wholeheartedly devoted and actually just wanted to make money, not to manage finances for the court.

It can be said that as the political center of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing is also the economic center of the north of the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention lending or anything else, just depositing and withdrawing goods from north to south is a great opportunity. There is no problem with developing a large bank just by relying on Beijing's geographical and political advantages.

However, Zhou Mengchen was not able to refuse Jiajing's request. Zhou Mengchen thought about it and said, "Your Majesty, there is naturally nothing that can't be done if you want to run a bank. But if Your Majesty shows up in public, it will really hurt the national health. If outsiders know about it, it will also hurt Your Majesty's reputation."

Although he has been extremely tolerant of doing business these days, and even some literati and officials will not hide their opinions about doing business, the emperor is not an ordinary person after all. The emperor lost too much points in doing business. Emperor Wanli made a big splash just because of the mining tax. It is very ironic that civil officials are extremely tolerant of themselves and have strict moral requirements for the emperor.

Jiajing nodded and said, "I have thought about this matter too. Of course, I will not come forward. Just let the people in the palace come forward."

When Zhou Mengchen heard this, he thought to himself: "It's not a big deal."

What kind of eunuchs are? Don’t Zhou Mengchen know? They are all dark-eyed and shameless, and they have a greed smell at their bones, as if silver is their life and roots. They can only be more, but not less, but what is the most important thing in finance? They are to restrain greed.

Not to mention that the eunuchs have no knowledge and cannot play this game at all. Even if someone can play this game, under the influence of the atmosphere in the palace, they are both greedy and desperate, and think that I am a person in the palace, and no one cares about the lawless spirit except the emperor.

Letting him manage the bank was the beginning of a disaster. Because according to Zhou Mengchen's observation, what is the most loan project in Beijing? It's nothing else, it's official loans. That is, after a new official becomes an official, no one takes office, and first borrows usury, then takes office to make money, and returns it to the usury owner.

Can such a loan be obtained? Of course not, but it may not be impossible in the hands of eunuchs.
Chapter completed!