Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Zhao Yuan said, "Those Jews, once dispersed, should be able to assimilate quickly, right?"

"They had no money and lived in a secluded house; how could they possibly proselytize?"

Wen Huanzhang said,

"The greatest weapon of the Jewish people is money, and they use marriage and blood ties to expand their community."

“Like that richest Jew, Mr. Li, his family was confiscated and he was sent to Youzhou. He has to learn to farm in order to survive.”

"Even if you are exceptionally good at managing a business, in twenty years you will at most become a small landowner."

Zhao Yuan said, "That's good."

Because there were eunuchs around, Wen Huanzhang could not reveal their names.

"We should learn from that person. Next year, we should issue an edict prohibiting people from distant tribes from marrying within the same tribe."

“They will be forced to intermarry with Han Chinese, and after two or three generations they will all be Sinicized.”

“I’ve heard that there are many black slaves in Guangdong,” Zhao Yuan said.

Wen Huanzhang said, "I asked carefully, and most of them were black slaves from Southeast Asia, and they were all men."

"Even the poorest Han Chinese woman would not marry a black slave, and they would not even treat them as human beings."

"In the more than one hundred years before the Song Dynasty, no native black slaves appeared in Guangzhou."

"As long as it doesn't spread, the imperial court doesn't need to interfere."

When the emperor and his minister arrived at the council hall, the senior ministers of the cabinet and the central government were already standing by the conference table, bowing and greeting them in unison.

The imperial conference of the Ming Dynasty was actually a mini-court assembly of the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Zhao Yuan made some opening remarks and quickly got to the point:

"Next, we need to take advantage of the situation to rectify the national financial industry, including pawnbroking, remittance, deposit, lending, exchange and other related businesses."

"This rectification campaign needs to be carried out nationwide, not just in Kaifeng."

Chapter 3355 Continuing the Reform

"First, employment contracts for servants are not permitted to be used as collateral or pawned."

"People are people, not commodities!"

"Secondly, the maximum lending rate shall be based on the 'Great Ming Code'."

"Third, allow private merchants to operate money exchange shops (paper money exchange)."

"Fourth, in the locations of the six major maritime trade offices, as well as Jiangling, Jiangzhou (Jiujiang), and Yangzhou, we attempted to issue the Great Ming Treasure Notes."

"We will not force merchants to subscribe; everything is voluntary. For large transactions, they will definitely find it more convenient to use paper money."

In ancient societies, no matter how much the financial industry was regulated, this was the best that could be done.

Things like required reserves are simply impossible to collect.

If officials can use this to bankrupt related shops, then ordinary people will have even less place to save or borrow money.

Moreover, there is no need to collect a deposit. Shops where people are willing to deposit their money must be financially strong and have an excellent reputation in the local area.

As for allowing private merchants to operate paper money shops, it was to promote the Ming Dynasty's paper money and facilitate the economic lives of merchants and civilians.

Paper money shops existed as early as the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, and they stored a large amount of paper money.

When merchants needed to travel to do business or ordinary people needed to travel far away, metal currency was not easy to carry, so they would take their metal currency to a money exchange shop to exchange it for paper money.

Money shops typically charge a 3% handling fee.

However, with the collapse of paper money, all those money shops closed down.

The Ming Dynasty's Baoquan Bureau, used for issuing and exchanging paper money, could not be established in every city, so it could rely on private paper money shops to solve the problem.

The imperial court would select two or three major cities in provinces where paper money needed to be issued to establish the Baoquan Bureau.

In other smaller cities, private merchants run money shops.

Private merchants would go to the Baoquan Bureau to purchase banknotes, then take them back to their small cities to help the imperial court with the issuance and exchange of banknotes.

"Does anyone have any objections or additions?" Zhao Yuan asked.

Zhang Shuye, who joined the cabinet this year, said: "We can also issue paper money in Chang'an, Taiyuan, and Zhengding to facilitate merchants' trade between the central and border regions, and make it easier to transport military supplies, thus saving the cost of transporting military funds to the frontier."

"Even if the central government system collapses, as long as the Ming Dynasty's paper money is still usable, merchants will be willing to continue to support the court in border defense."

Qian Chen said, "What Minister Zhang said is absolutely right. My suggestion is to issue paper money in the provincial capital of every province within five years."

"According to feedback from merchants in Sichuan and Hanzhong, they greatly appreciate the use of paper money and have repeatedly requested the court to increase its issuance."

"If Sichuan merchants are like this, then merchants from other provinces can also accept it."

In fact, the merchants in Sichuan used the Ming Dynasty banknotes as bills of exchange.

Moreover, compared to ordinary bank drafts, the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes do not incur handling fees for cashing in other locations, and can even be used directly to pay taxes in other locations.

It not only facilitates buying and selling, but also saves costs.

Take Li Bangyan's move to Hangzhou as an example. When the 100,000 guan draft from the capital was cashed in Hangzhou, Li Bangyan was charged a handling fee of 1,000 guan.

Logically speaking, a 1% handling fee isn't high, but the amount of money involved in currency exchange is substantial.

If the imperial court establishes the Baoquan Bureau in both Tokyo and Hangzhou, Li Bangyan could save this thousand strings of cash, since the Baoquan Bureau does not charge handling fees.

Similarly, the more cities that established the Baoquan Bureau, the lower the transaction fees of private money shops would be.

Previously, money exchange shops charged 3% for currency exchange, but with increased competition, this will gradually decrease to 2%, 1%, or even less.

Between the money shop and its customers, a delicate market balance must inevitably be reached based on their respective costs and benefits.

Chapter 3356 Qin Hui's Ambitions

After Zhang Shuye and Qian Chen each offered their suggestions, the other cabinet ministers remained silent.

With one reshuffle after another at the central level, even Qin Hui could hardly distinguish the factions anymore.

The cabinet situation is also quite complicated; it's roughly like this:

Although Zhai Ruwen could not control the cabinet, he was, after all, the prime minister, and many former officials of the Song Dynasty regarded him as their leader.

Vice Chancellor Liu Jian had already laid down his arms, but after Zhang Gen retired, many of the early civil officials who had followed the emperor attached themselves to him.

Xiao Chu never sought power, yet he held great prestige within the cabinet, and was supported by Hu Anguo, the prime minister, in the Six Ministries.

They belong to the "Spring and Autumn Period faction," a group of radical officials who are clamoring to restore the glorious Han and Tang dynasties. In the past two years, they have repeatedly instigated a renewed war with the Jin dynasty.

The military really likes them!

Zhao Quan, on the other hand, was a pragmatist, and his confidants were mostly in the Ministry of Works.

Qin Hui is now the Minister of Works, but his subordinates are a group of Zhao Quan's cronies.

Zhang Shuye didn't have any factional power, but he was very close to the Privy Council and was the military's representative in the cabinet.

Li Hanzhang and Qian Chen are definitely His Majesty's supporters!

Qin Hui said, "None of the seven Grand Secretaries can hold absolute power."

"The same applies to the Six Ministries; His Majesty is adept at balancing all sides."

"For us, the most trustworthy people are our husbands and brothers."

"But your brothers seem to be disliked by His Majesty and have never been able to hold office."

"My brothers have all been taken care of."

Wang said, "Is Wei Liangchen still unwilling to get close to you?"

“Because of last year’s case, he has become even more cautious,” Qin Hui said.

Although Wei Liangchen, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, and his brothers used his name to embezzle and break the law, the two were not on the same household register.

Moreover, the two brothers lived far apart, and Wei Liangchen was indeed unaware of the situation.

Wei Liangchen was not only found innocent, but was also discovered to be an incorruptible and honest official.

He also had the merit of supporting the emperor, and as a student of the Imperial Academy, he rallied the students to petition the emperor for justice for Zhao Yuan.

Later, he followed Zhao Yuan to Guizhou and then followed Zhao Yuan to Jinzhou.

Despite all this, in such a major case last year, where even his brother was involved, Wei Liangchen was only fined three months' salary.

Qin Hui desperately wanted to curry favor with Wei Liangchen because Wei Liangchen was his classmate and roommate!

Unfortunately, Wei Liangchen never befriended any high-ranking officials and deliberately avoided any connection with Qin Hui.

"Which of your classmates from Nanjing are still serving as officials?" Wang asked.

Qin Hui said, "Among my old friends in Nanjing, Fan Tong has the highest official rank. He has been promoted to provincial councilor based on his political achievements and is expected to be promoted to provincial inspector soon."

Fan Tong was not only Qin Hui's old friend in Nanjing, but also a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in Zhao Yuan's cohort, and later passed the Hongci examination.

Historically, when Qin Hui wanted to eliminate military generals like Yue Fei, it was Fan Tong who suggested removing the Privy Council and collectively dismissing a group of generals from their military power.

Fan Tong was practically a carbon copy of Qin Hui.

He possessed exceptional academic abilities and outstanding competence, and ultimately even vied for power with Qin Hui, attempting to eliminate Qin Hui and become prime minister himself.

Qin Hui was extremely wary of him, so he demoted Fan Tong to a local post and forbade him from returning to the court.

Because he was admitted to the same examination as His Majesty and had outstanding political achievements, Fan Tong was promoted very quickly in recent years.

Wang said, "Is Fan Tongke skilled in water conservancy?"

Qin Hui said, "He understands water conservancy, but he doesn't have much experience yet. If we put him in charge of water conservancy, he can be entrusted with important responsibilities in a few years."

Wang suggested, "We can write a letter to Fan Tong and ask him to develop more water conservancy projects in the area."

"Given His Majesty's ability to recognize and appoint capable people, he will surely be transferred to the Ministry of Works, where he will become your subordinate."

"At that time, you can transfer him to a local position."

"You manage the domestic affairs, he manages the external affairs; you cooperate with each other and achieve remarkable results."

"My wife is truly clever!" Qin Hui exclaimed with delight.

Although he became the Minister of Works, he was surrounded by Zhao Quan's faction, making it difficult for him to accomplish anything.

If Fan Tong could be transferred to the Ministry of Works, the two of them could work together to build their influence, accomplish practical tasks, and achieve political success. Their entry into the cabinet and becoming prime minister would then be just around the corner.

Wang said, "If you become prime minister, you must not forget the Wang family."

"My brothers are useless, but my nephews and grandnephews are all studious and some of them will eventually pass the imperial examinations."

"Give them a hand when the time comes. The Wang family has countless disciples and former officials, and their connections will be a great help to you in the future."

"Don't worry, we won't forget the Wang family," Qin Hui reassured him.

The Wang family indeed has many protégés and former officials. Now that Qin Hui has become the Minister of Works, some of them are already actively trying to curry favor with him.

With the Wang family's assistance, Qin Hui was able to become even more powerful.

Otherwise, how could Qin Hui possibly be afraid of his wife?

Before the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, because Lady Wang was unable to have children, Qin Hui had a child with a maid.

Under normal circumstances, Wang should have adopted this child and raised him as her own.

But she directly drove away the maid and the child, and then adopted her brother's illegitimate child.

This time and space is different; the Wang family's power has greatly diminished!

Especially after Qin Hui became Minister of Works, he felt that it was the Wang family that should be currying favor with him, rather than him currying favor with the Wang family.

Chapter 3357 Honest Official

The reason he didn't directly turn against his wife was simply because Qin Hui wanted to be an "honest official," and the Wang family had been continuously providing him with money!

Using the excuse of needing to go out for a social engagement, Qin Hui went out again after dinner.

He went to a private room in a restaurant for a meal, but changed his clothes and quietly slipped away, taking a carriage to a secluded courtyard.

"My lord is here!" A beautiful woman greeted him with a beaming smile.