Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1165 Financial Control
Seeing that no one had any other opinions, Zhu Shenzhui immediately decided that the final gold and silver coins would be implemented according to this method.

The next step is for the Mint to carry out large-scale coin minting, which will then be exchanged and issued through the Ming Royal Bank.

In this way, everyone agreed, and the matter was settled. After everyone stood up and left, Zhu Shenzhui played with the gold and silver coins in his hands, with a smile on his face.

"Dad, why do I always feel like something is wrong?" After Hong Chengchou and others left one after another, Crown Prince Zhu Minlan stayed behind. Seeing that there were no outsiders around, he couldn't help but ask this question.

"What's wrong? Tell me about it." Zhu Shenzhui asked with a smile.

Zhu Minlan thought about it and shook his head, "It's hard to say exactly what's wrong. I don't have any problem with what Lord Kang said, but I always feel that something is wrong. But after thinking about it, I can't figure it out."

"Hahaha!" Zhu Shenzui couldn't help but burst into laughter after hearing him say that.

Seeing his father smiling so happily, Zhu Minlan became more certain that there were indeed aspects of this matter that he had not expected. Based on his understanding of his father, Zhu Shenzhui's smile was clearly an expression of inner pride, and he immediately could not help but ask more questions.

"You, you are so short-sighted that you cannot see the mountain. Some things cannot be seen only in front of you, you have to look at the whole picture." Facing his son, especially the prince, Zhu Shenzhui certainly had to give him some advice.

Zhu Minlan frowned but still couldn't figure out the key to the problem, so he could only ask Zhu Shenzhu for help.

"Let me ask you, is Kang Youfu's explanation right or wrong?"

"This...should be correct." Zhu Minlan hesitated.

"What should it be? It must be right. If there is something wrong, how can the Prime Minister and other ministers be convinced? Don't forget that they are all talented people of our Ming Dynasty. If there is a problem with such a matter, how can they not see it with their vision?"

"This..." Zhu Minlan was confused. Since Kang Youfu said all the facts, why would his father be secretly proud? Could there be something he hadn't thought of?

Recalling Zhu Shenzhui's reminder just now, telling him not to be blinded by a single leaf and fail to see the big picture, Zhu Minlan racked his brains to think about it. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his mind, and he subconsciously asked, "Could it be that the key to this matter is not the Mint, but the Ming Royal Bank?"

"Good boy!" Zhu Shenzhui was a little surprised when Zhu Minlan said this. He originally thought that this boy would think about it for a while, but he didn't expect that he would think about it after just a reminder.

"Tell me, why is the key not in the Mint but in the Royal Bank?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with a smile.

Zhu Minlan smiled embarrassedly, "I'm thinking that you never make a loss in business. You are a person who thinks three steps ahead. I've never seen you so careless in all these years. Since coinage is a policy that you deliberately want to promote, and you insist on replacing the current gold and silver with coins, how can you do such a thankless task if there is no profit? Moreover, the profit from coinage is real. If you just let it go, it will be inconsistent with your previous behavior. So I've thought about it and found that there is no other place to operate except the Ming Royal Bank. I'm... hehe..."

Zhu Shenzhui didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After all this time, this kid didn't guess the key point, but judged it based on his own performance and understanding of himself. However, he was able to make such a judgment, which was considered good. After all, although Zhu Minlan had studied since childhood and later went to military school, he was considered the best among his peers in both civil and military affairs. Moreover, he had taught him personally and brought him up by his side for many years. As a prince, he was already very good.

But the limitations of the vision of the times cannot be changed. Even though Zhu Minlan has reached such an understanding, there are some things he cannot see so clearly, especially when it comes to the monetary system and a series of operations. This is already the scope of the modern economy. In this era, let alone Zhu Minlan, even successful businessmen may not be able to truly understand the operations involved.

With a sigh in his heart, Zhu Shenzhui told Zhu Minlan that his guess was correct. The key was not in the Mint but in the Ming Royal Bank. The operation of the Mint alone, although there was income, there were also a lot of expenses. However, most of these expenses were actually generated by the bank, and through the operation, these were directly transferred to the Mint. In this way, the Mint not only made profits but also borne expenses, thus achieving the current results. In fact, whether it was currency exchange or loss of gold and silver purity plus other aspects, the bank had already included these expenses in the cost during operation. In other words, when the bank received ordinary gold and silver and exchanged them according to the proportion, these costs were directly converted into it, and when it was transferred to the Mint for coinage, these originally converted costs were added back. In this way, twice the cost was transferred to the Mint, and then evenly spread to the Mint.

Moreover, Kang Youfu is currently in charge of two institutions, the Ming Royal Bank and the Mint. With Kang Youfu's management talent, as long as Zhu Shenzhui gives him a little reminder, Kang Youfu will be able to do this thing perfectly and no one will be able to find fault with it.

This is also the reason why Kang Youfu just talked so much that Hong Chengchou and others were speechless. But in fact, after the Mint Department took on these costs and shared them, it did not make much profit. On the surface, it could only maintain a balance, but the actual income and profits were all transferred to the Ming Royal Bank. However, no one took the Ming Royal Bank into consideration, so naturally they would not think about this problem. This is also what Zhu Shenzhui mentioned as a blind spot.

When Zhu Shenzhui solved the mystery, Zhu Minlan suddenly realized the secret of the operation. He couldn't help but applaud and praise, and couldn't help asking his father why he did this. As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, whether it was the Ministry of Revenue or the Ming Royal Bank, they were all departments in the hands of the emperor. Isn't it the same where the money is? Why did he insist on leaving the money in the Ming Royal Bank? Could it be that his father was the same as the Wanli Emperor back then? He valued money more when he was old, so he used this method to hide his private money?

"Nonsense! How can I be compared with Wanli?" Zhu Shenzhui said unhappily.

"But……."

Without waiting for Zhu Minlan to ask, Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand and said to him seriously: "Do you know why I set up the Ming Royal Bank?"

"Could it be to raise funds, control taxes, and control military power?" Zhu Minlan asked back.

The Ming Royal Bank was established to serve the emperor, or more precisely, the imperial power. The Ming Royal Bank was initially established because the national treasury was empty and the Ming Dynasty's finances were on the verge of collapse. In order to solve the financial problem, Zhu Shenzhu split the Hengtong Commercial Bank he originally controlled into two parts, and established the Ming Royal Bank with the money shop as the main body. He also let Kang Youfu take charge of this department as the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and raise funds for the emperor.

It was for this reason that after the establishment of the Ming Royal Bank, the already popular silver notes were converted into paper money for issuance, and then guaranteed by the reputation and assets of the Royal Bank, which gave a relief to the Ming Dynasty's finances.

Later, when conducting border trade and foreign trade, Zhu Shenzhui stipulated that all financial transactions must be exchanged and traded through the Ming Royal Bank. At the same time, the Ming Royal Bank and the Ministry of Revenue, including local governments, were required to conduct settlements, take over some of the functions of the imperial treasury, and directly deduct taxes from financial transactions to ensure the collection of commercial taxes and other income.

Because of this, the taxation of the Ming Dynasty continued to rise in just a few years, and eventually the finances of the Ming Dynasty gradually improved and stood up again from the quagmire. Later, considering the serious corruption in the Ming army, the situation of eating empty salaries and supporting servants was everywhere. While the Ming army was being reorganized, the Ming Royal Bank also intervened at the same time. By reorganizing the army, the original military pay issued by the Ministry of War was changed to the regulations of the Ming Royal Bank on a monthly basis according to the individual accounts of the soldiers. In this way, the emperor could truly control the national army, which was of great significance.

Moreover, during these two years, the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty continued to expand and develop, and even the salaries of the court and local officials were gradually paid by the Royal Bank according to the household registration. This completely changed the previous practice of the court's financial expenditure, and made the previous situation of manipulation and corruption in the payment of salaries completely improved, thus greatly improving the administration of officials in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Minlan was aware of all these, and he also knew how important the role of the Ming Royal Bank was. But in Zhu Shenzhu's view, this was far from enough. Zhu Shenzhu clearly realized that there were two types of problems in the Ming Dynasty before. One was due to the problems of officialdom, and the other was financial problems.

If the Ming Dynasty continues to operate in the same way as before, even if these problems are alleviated now, it will only be a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution. Moreover, as time goes by, if the financial power is still in the hands of the Ministry of Revenue, it will be extremely detrimental to the emperor's rule.

The Ministry of Revenue is certainly necessary to exist, but it does not need to be too powerful. Zhu Shenzhui does not want his descendants to repeat the dilemma faced by Emperor Chongzhen. If one of his descendants turns out to be a brainless guy in the future, the consequences for the Ming Dynasty will be really worrying.

Therefore, it is necessary to dismantle the Ministry of Revenue and weaken its current functions, and it is also an important step to control the country's purse. It is more reasonable to let the Ming Royal Bank take over some of the original functions of the Ministry of Revenue and let the Ministry of Revenue change from the current full control of expenditure to only the amount of expenditure and administrative department.

Professional matters should be left to professionals. The Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty is equivalent to the existence of the central bank. As the main institution of national finance and financial operation, it plays the role of regulating the economy. The Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty actually belongs to the Imperial Household Department, which is the private institution of the emperor and is completely different from other court departments. Even the cabinet cannot reach the Imperial Household Department. In this way, the emperor controls the financial expenditure through the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty and can determine the stability of Ming Dynasty. As long as the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty does not fall and the Imperial Household Department operates well, the royal family of Ming Dynasty will be as stable as Mount Tai.

(End of this chapter)