After Zhao Huan burned the secret report, he went to bed. The emperor acted as if nothing had happened. The next day, he got up and discussed the new policies with the ministers of the two offices in the court. Everything seemed to be proceeding in an orderly manner.

Today's Song Dynasty Gazette also sold out in a very short time. Zhao Huan sometimes felt that doing new media was quite profitable. Look, the court has recently come up with some new tricks, which are put in the Gazette, and the people are scrambling to buy them.

This is just like how WeChat public accounts in later generations constantly come up with novel things to attract readers to give rewards! Or it's the same principle as how failed authors on Qidian (a Chinese online literature platform) attract readers to subscribe by creating all sorts of novel content.

The common people not only subscribed to Zhao Huan's official gazette of the Song Dynasty, but also flocked to restaurants to listen to storytellers make commentaries.

The most popular one is the Great Song Royal Bank. It is said that if you deposit money in the Great Song Royal Bank, not only will you not have to pay management fees, but you will also receive a reward of one percent of the deposit as a return to the people.

Furthermore, the Great Song Bank offered two options: one was to deposit money in the bank for a year and receive a 1% bonus; the other was to deposit money in the bank and withdraw it at any time and receive a 5% bonus!

Is this for real? Not only are there no management fees, but they even give you money?

This novelty quickly spread throughout Tokyo, but many people didn't believe it. How could there be such a good thing in the world, where someone could manage money and also receive extra rewards?

Impossible! Impossible!

Just when the common people thought it was impossible, the storytellers and the official gazette said that many wealthy families in the capital city of Tokyo had already deposited their money there.

I also heard that Wang the Mute in the south of the east city deposited some money in the bank. When he withdrew it the next day, he found that he had a little more than usual. That little bit was his bonus. And similar things were happening all over the city.

The entrance to the Great Song Bank gradually went from being deserted to having a few people. These people initially deposited money for one day, and the next day they continued to wait there, waiting for the bank to open so they could withdraw their money. Sure enough, there were a few more people there.

This goes on and on, it's really amazing. Does this bank have some kind of magic potion that can make new money grow when you water it?

This news quickly spread throughout the capital city of Tokyo. Within two days, many people began depositing money in the Great Song Bank. By the third day, the Great Song Bank had received as much as one million strings of cash from the people.

One after another, wealthy families began to deposit their money in banks. It wasn't that these wealthy families trusted the banks, but rather that as powerful and influential families, they had political missions to fulfill and had no choice but to do so. In reality, they were not entirely confident about the situation.

Fortunately, more and more people are going to the bank to deposit money. With more people, everyone has more trust in each other and no one thinks their behavior is strange or that the Song Dynasty Bank will not repay the money.

So many people have deposited their money here; if they don't return it, it will inevitably cause a huge riot, something even the emperor might not be able to control.

Shao Chengzhang felt that his life was as exciting as a roller coaster ride. Just a few days ago, he was discussing the improvement of the Divine Arm Crossbow with Ling Zhen and Chen Gui at the Military Equipment Bureau. Now, he actually sat in the position of Imperial Bank Manager of the Great Song Dynasty, managing the Great Song Dynasty Imperial Bank on behalf of the Emperor.

Shao Chengzhang was a stubborn and inflexible person, so Zhao Huan believed that it was relatively reliable for him to manage the huge financial system.

The establishment of the Great Song Bank can be said to be of epoch-making significance. Without the Great Song Bank, Tang Ke, who was then the Vice Minister of State Affairs and the current Minister of Commerce, would not have been able to ask the Zhou Dynasty for money.

Sitting in the carriage, Tang Ke hadn't slept a wink all night. One-third of the tasks for the Council of State this year and next year were on his shoulders. It could be said that he was the first person to shoulder the responsibility of the Great Song Merchant Guild.

Tang Ke had already made his plans. Now that the business had been established and His Majesty the Emperor had entrusted him with such a heavy task, he naturally needed to ask the Emperor for some support; otherwise, Tang Ke would definitely be dismissed next year.

What do they want? The most wasteful thing the court has right now, yet it can sell for a good price, is royal handicrafts. Every year, the emperor gives his ministers a huge amount of silk and jade. Giving these to those who don't work is not as good as selling them!

This matter originally involved the system of etiquette. How could royal items be sold casually? Those were all bestowed upon people with titles. Zhang Shuye jumped up and scolded Tang Ke, accusing him of violating the established order and causing the collapse of the social order.

Tang Ke himself knew that this was something he shouldn't do, but he had been forced into this situation and had no choice but to bite the bullet and do it. So he went to Zhao Huan and told him about it. Unexpectedly, the emperor, who was a bit dim-witted, agreed very quickly!

Tang Ke was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night, experiencing a thrill of being driven to the brink of despair and then miraculously escaping.

Although the emperor agreed, Zhang Shuye did not. That old man Zhang Shuye was really energetic. Today in court, he kept pointing at Tang Ke and cursing him. Tang Ke went from being annoyed at the beginning to having an attitude of "let him curse me, I'm going to do it anyway".

How did Tang Ke finally get Zhang Shuye to compromise? He decided to draw people from the major official kilns and embroidery workshops to establish a new department, a branch of the Great Song Merchant Guild, called the Art and Craft Bureau.

The Arts and Crafts Bureau produces two things: precious ceramics and exquisite silks and hand embroidery.

The target of the Artwork Bureau is the wealthy people of the Song Dynasty; their goal is to make money off them first.

The commercial development of the Song Dynasty was unparalleled in China's thousand-year history. In the capital city of Bianjing alone, there were countless families with assets of more than 100,000 strings of cash, and those with assets of one million strings of cash were as numerous as carp crossing a river.

These people are rich, but they don't have any noble titles. Wealth doesn't equate to nobility!

Now, I, Tang Ke, will tell you that I have a group of people who once worked for His Majesty the Emperor. These ceramic and silk producers all worked for the Emperor, and the things they made were bestowed by the Emperor upon the prime minister and nobles.

Are you going to buy it or not?

The thought of this made Tang Ke's blood boil; he was truly excited about his idea.

Unfortunately, that bastard Zhou Chao refused to pay. He sided with Zhang Shuye and accused Tang Ke of bringing chaos to the country.

Fortunately, the emperor set up a Great Song Bank. Even if the Ministry of Revenue didn't provide funds, it didn't mean that Tang Ke would be without money.

The rules of the Great Song Bank are also very simple: it provides loans specifically to Great Song Merchants, but charges a 2% interest rate.

Tang Ke had naturally done the math, taking into account the cost of employing staff, rent, and operating expenses. He figured it would be a huge profit, even if the Great Song Merchant Guild raised its interest rate to 10%, there would still be plenty of money to be made.

No sooner had Tang Ke stepped into the gates of the Great Song Bank than he borrowed money. It seemed as if Shao Chengzhang had anticipated that Tang Ke would come to borrow money, so he readily approved it. However, this approval still had to be submitted to the emperor for final approval before it could be finalized.

Tang Ke wasn't worried. He had already spoken to the emperor, who absolutely supported his decision.

Sitting in the Imperial Study, looking at the documents handed over by Shao Chengzhang, Zhao Huan made a plan. It seemed that Tang Ke was a good candidate. Once he had made the Great Song Merchant Guild a force to be reckoned with, he would officially separate it from that lousy place called the Hall of State Affairs.