Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 192 The emperor really went to great lengths to pay his soldiers out of his own pocket!
In order not to dampen the enthusiasm of the Liao soldiers for sweeping away their strongholds, Zhu Youjian considered cleaning up their garbage as a military achievement.

The Jurchen people were all soldiers. Any adult male was considered a normal slave soldier, and each head was worth sixty taels of silver. Others were subject to a head-splitting policy: five heads of slaves aged 45 to 16 were counted as one head, ten heads of women were counted as one head, and traitors, lackeys, and Mongol collaborators were further subdivided into two groups.

Due to the financial difficulties of the imperial court, ten taels of the sixty taels reward will be issued first, and then the grain will be converted into ten taels of silver at the price of one shi of grain per tael of silver. The remaining forty taels will be settled in two installments in August and December of this year.

To demonstrate his determination and sincerity, Zhu Youjian even wrote an IOU in a serious manner, affixing the Imperial Seal of the State and the seals of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War, and also using the anti-counterfeiting technology of paper money.

The first batch of IOUs read: "Due to a shortage of funds in the court, we owe the soldiers twenty taels of silver as a reward for their heads. Now, His Majesty has spoken, and the court has sworn that by the first day of the eighth month of the second year of Chongzhen's reign, the silver can be redeemed with this contract, and the debt will be settled without any delay."

The purpose of this thing is not just to appease the soldiers, but to use the country's credit as collateral to force the court to pay the money. They must not try to delay or drag it out until it is forgotten. Either they pay the money, or they all die together!

Out of caution, Zhu Youjian even went to the Beijing garrison to issue national bonds, explained the reasons to the soldiers, and asked them if they could accept them.

"Your Majesty, our soldiers in the capital garrison can wait a while, but the brothers in the visiting army have some complaints. After the battle, they all want to go home and can't wait until the end of the year," the simple-minded soldier said.

Zhu Youjian nodded and quietly told him that there were two pawnshops in the capital willing to buy back these notes for 19.5 taels each. If he needed money urgently, he could pawn the bonds.

This pawnshop was, of course, opened by Zhu Youjian himself. It wasn't for promoting any national bonds; he simply used them as a financial tool to distribute money from the imperial treasury to the soldiers. Zhu Youjian really went to great lengths to distribute money, going through all that trouble and roundabout methods.
He wasn't greedy, but he couldn't spoil the court. If the country needed money, they would just take from the emperor's pocket. That was unacceptable!

Recalling bonds is essentially transferring debt, turning the money the court owed to the soldiers into money the court owed to the emperor. Of course, even if this were exposed by officials, Zhu Youjian would certainly not admit it, because if it were clear that the court owed the emperor money, they would dare to blatantly default on their debts!

Civil officials would think twice before bullying the military, considering the consequences, but they would never hesitate for even a second before bullying the emperor!

Soon after, Zhu Youjian discovered that many legitimate pawnshops considered bond collecting a lucrative business. Although the profit margin was low, it was a sure thing; the more bonds they collected, the more money they could make. Behind the pawnshops in the capital were certainly no ordinary people; among them was the Duke of Ying, Zhang Weixian. Seeing other pawnshops entering the market, the pawnshop managers came to consult the Duke.

Zhang Weixian found the matter suspicious, but after a little thought, he easily figured out the ins and outs. It wasn't that he was particularly clever, but rather that he knew a lot. He then decided to support the emperor, instructing his family's pawnshop manager to buy anything, even at the original price, until they were broke!
At first, he was somewhat conflicted, unsure of the emperor's intentions and worried about ruining the emperor's plans. But upon closer examination, he realized that the emperor was only charging an extra five qian of silver, so it couldn't be for profit. The reason he didn't buy at the original price was twofold: firstly, to cover up the truth, and secondly, because the emperor didn't have enough money and had to be frugal.

He, on the other hand, had no need to hide anything; he was simply public-spirited. As the head of the nobility, it was perfectly reasonable for him to help the soldiers. On the contrary, if he were to profit from the soldiers, he would be condemned. The so-called attempt to cover up the truth was that this move was essentially a debt transfer, but it was disguised as a profitable project. The two pawnshops were nominally unrelated to the emperor; they were simply collecting bonds to make money.

If there isn't enough money, those who aren't in a hurry to exchange it should be discouraged from doing so. Priority should be given to soldiers who urgently need money and who have a particular distrust of the court. These soldiers are unstable factors and are especially prone to mutiny, so they need to be appeased.

The third reason was to anchor the price of bonds and prevent a collapse in bond prices that would harm the interests of soldiers. As long as his pawnshop was still open, other pawnshops could not offer a price lower than nineteen taels and five mace for the bonds.

Within half a month, the pawnshop's customer traffic plummeted from its peak, and the imperial treasury spent a total of 800,000 taels of silver and received bonds with a face value of about 820,000 taels.

His approach wasn't ruthless enough; he set the purchase price too high, resulting in low public participation. The amount exchanged by the public was roughly around 300,000 taels, with everyone buying a portion out of curiosity. Although the court made these bonds seem legitimate, who knew if they would default in the end?!

One million one hundred thousand taels of silver, which is equivalent to eighteen thousand heads. With that, most of the bonds issued were wiped out. Zhu Youjian was almost moved by his own actions; he had truly given everything for the army, sparing no expense except for his wife, he had poured all the good things he could find into the army.

Zhu Youjian's shady dealings were eventually discovered by Bi Ziyan. He was inspired and thought that bonds were a good thing. The young emperor was really smart, but why did he keep it from him? Bi Ziyan was heartbroken!
Zhu Youjian smiled coldly and rejected Bi Ziyan's proposal to continue issuing bonds. This kind of thing can be used, but it cannot be abused. Issuing war merit bonds now is only an expedient measure, and the court is under great pressure to repay the debt.

This year, tax revenue in Beizhili will inevitably plummet. The drought continues, and other areas are also experiencing sustained crop failures. The only options are to either watch tax revenue decline or increase taxes to plunder the people; there is no other way. Zhu Youjian dared not plunder the people, preferring less money and a more frugal approach from the court. Of course, plundering landlords and powerful families was still an option, but the method of execution was crucial.

Although Bi Ziyan didn't know what financing was, he still keenly realized that the emperor had borrowed hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from the people without paying a single penny of interest! This was much more powerful than his salt certificates. He was very unwilling to accept this, feeling that it was a waste for the emperor not to promote this ingenious method. If he were allowed to operate it freely, making tens of millions of taels of silver would be no problem!

Back then, he could pay his soldiers whenever he wanted and build cities whenever he wanted, living a carefree life like a god. Unlike now, where all the government offices are chattering and asking him for money, giving him a huge headache!

Of course, Bi Ziyan wasn't really that stupid. He understood the consequences of issuing bonds indiscriminately, but he was confident that he could control the situation.

(End of this chapter)