Time flies and it is already the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month.

There were four important festivals in the Ming Dynasty, namely the Winter Solstice, New Year's Day, Lantern Festival and Wanshou Festival.

There is no need to elaborate on the Winter Solstice and the Lantern Festival, as they have the same meaning as modern festivals.

Zhengdan Festival is the first day of the first lunar month every year, which is now called the Spring Festival.

The Emperor's birthday is the Emperor's birthday.

These holidays have one thing in common: officials need to be given a holiday.

As for whether to host a banquet for all the ministers, it depends on the emperor's own wishes.

Holidays can be long or short.

The longest is the Lantern Festival, which lasts about ten days.

The second is the New Year's Day, which lasts about six or seven days.

The holidays for the Winter Solstice and the Longevity Festival can be as short as one day or as long as three days.

In addition, officials have two days of new moon and full moon holidays every month.

All the holidays add up to more than 40 days, which is a pretty good treatment.

Of course...these holidays are not legally mandated; they are all invisible systems formed based on custom.

In addition, all officials must obtain approval from their superiors before taking leave.

Chongzhen's birthday is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month.

As the birthday and New Year's Day were approaching, Wang Chengen asked Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I would like to ask you a question. Do you want to invite all the ministers to a banquet for the birthday?"

"If you want to host a banquet, the Shangshenjian needs to prepare it in advance."

Chongzhen thought for a moment and said, "The bandits inside the pass are causing chaos, and the Jiannu and Mongolians outside the pass are eyeing us covetously. As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, I should be frugal. I will issue an order that no banquet will be held on the birthday of the emperor, and officials will only be given one day off."

"I will go and convey your order right away." Wang Chengen bowed and was about to leave.

"etc."

Wang Chengen turned around quickly and asked, "What else does the emperor want me to do?"

"Have you prepared the red envelope I asked you to prepare?"

"Your Majesty, we still need more than a hundred. We can finish them this afternoon."

"How is the preparation of Daming Bank going?"

"Everything has been prepared. The bank's banknotes have been printed. We can open for business once the silver from the treasury arrives."

"Hmm..." Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction.

His purpose of opening a money shop was to establish the official bank of the Ming Dynasty!

This bank only does one thing: promote economic development!

In this era of low productivity and underdeveloped transportation, economic development still depends on business.

Business prosperity also requires one prerequisite: stability.

Stable environment.

Now the domestic bandits cannot be eliminated repeatedly, which makes it impossible to provide a stable trading environment for businesses.

There are more bandits than just Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

They are just the two most powerful gangs.

In addition to them, there are many small and medium-sized bandits and robbers.

The existence of these people seriously affected the north-south trade of the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, the main items transported from the south to the north were grain, tea, porcelain, silk fabrics, and various precious woods.

The things shipped from the north to the south were relatively much smaller in both quantity and variety, and were basically coal, cotton and the like.

Therefore, in the North-South trade, the South is always in a trade surplus position, while the North is in a trade deficit position.

Southern merchants needed to transport the money they earned in the North back to the South.

To ensure the safety of the silver, they had only two choices.

1. Join a large caravan.

The large caravans were large and powerful. Not only did they have their own guards, they could even hire officers and soldiers from the grain transport industry to join them.

Second, bribe the officers and soldiers of the canal transport system and use the canal transport ships to transport the silver back.

No matter which choice is made, it will greatly affect the development of business.

Although there are many private banks on the market, their scale and credibility are average.

The Ming Dynasty Money House was established to solve this problem.

In the early days, there was one money shop in Beijing and one in Nanjing.

You can exchange the silver note for silver.

Facilitate transactions for merchants and promote currency circulation.

The faster money flows, the faster the economy can develop.

Vice versa, the faster the economy develops, the faster the money flows.

The Daming Money House in Beijing has both money and people, and can be opened at any time as long as the need arises.

Nanjing is not good...

No money and no people!

In fact, money is secondary, after all, the treasury is not short of money.

It’s mainly a people problem.

Once the Ming Dynasty Money House took on more business, the Nanjing Money House would have at least several million taels of silver.

It is equivalent to a second treasury.

It’s not that he didn’t trust Zhu Cilang, but that he didn’t trust the people in Nanjing.

Is there a compromise?

Chongzhen closed his eyes and thought.

Just as Chongzhen was thinking, hurried footsteps were heard outside.

Then the palace door was pushed open and a young eunuch ran in with a cold wind.

He walked into the palace and knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty, something happened in the Imperial College."

Seeing this, Wang Chengen hurriedly signaled to the guards outside the door with his eyes, asking them to close the door.

He did this because he was afraid that Chongzhen would be cold, and secondly to prevent the news from leaking out.

After closing the palace door, Chongzhen asked, "What's the matter?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, a student from the Imperial College knelt outside the gate of the Imperial City to appeal for justice. He has now been captured by the Brave Guard Battalion and is being held in a temporary cell."

Kneel down and complain?

Hearing these four words, Wang Chengen broke out in a cold sweat.

This student is totally looking for death!

What day is today?

The twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month!

In four days it will be the Emperor's birthday!

Wouldn't it be a nuisance to His Majesty if we appeared outside the Imperial City to complain at this moment?

Regardless of whether the other party had any grievances or not, he was dead.

It is an indisputable fact that without any injustice, one will die.

Even if he was wronged, the emperor would chop off his head after redressing his wrongdoing.

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