Old Zhu always knew that his eldest grandson was a very intelligent person, with some whimsical ideas popping into his head from time to time.

Sometimes, Emperor Zhu felt that his eldest grandson had too many ideas, some of which couldn't withstand scrutiny and weren't very suitable for the Ming Dynasty. However, some of his ideas, after careful consideration, made Emperor Zhu feel that they were truly beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.

For example, this bank. At first glance, Old Zhu thought it was a bad thing. He had always been rather old-fashioned and absolutely supported prioritizing agriculture over commerce. But banks seemed to be beneficial to commercial development, so Old Zhu was naturally unhappy.

Just think about it: if the banks operate well, the money of powerful families and ordinary people will all be deposited with the imperial court. This would naturally mean that the Ming Dynasty would no longer have to worry about money, and would always have some silver on hand.

It would be the most wasteful thing to bury money in the ground. Some aristocratic families are like the mythical creature Pixiu, only taking in and never giving out. They like to melt down silver and cast it into large ingots.

Old Zhu knew all about these things and originally thought they were perfectly normal, since everyone had been doing them for a long time.

"Grandfather, if we open banks in the name of the Ming Dynasty and spread them throughout the Ming territory, at least every prefecture and county should have a bank, and even the better counties could open banks," Zhu Yunying said ambitiously to his father. "That way, we will have more money in our hands."

Old Zhu thought the idea was good, but still had to remind him, "You have to consider this carefully, and you can't afford to make any mistakes. If someone falsifies the information or embezzles, that will be a real problem."

Such things are certainly impossible to completely avoid, and what Zhu Yunying needs to do is to prevent them as much as possible. At this time, supervision and severe punishment are also necessary to keep some people in line and put away their inappropriate thoughts.

Zhu Yunying did not object, and said to his father, "That makes sense. I must also do a good job of preventing a run on the bank. We cannot lack credibility."

Establishing a bank was Zhu Yunying's idea, and although he had drafted the regulations and had the concept, its implementation would require careful communication with various individuals to minimize any oversights.

It will certainly be somewhat different from modern banks, but Zhu Yunying felt that it should have all the basic functions, and he was somewhat confident that he could do it.

Listening to Zhu Yunying's words, Old Zhu felt more at ease. His grandson was quite steady and reliable in his work. He did not want to implement the policy immediately, but would discuss it carefully with many ministers in the court.

Sitting to the side, Zhu Yunwen seemed to remember something and asked, "Brother, what does this matter have to do with our imperial clan?"

“As members of the imperial clan, we will naturally invest in it,” Zhu Yunying said with a smile, explaining, “If the Imperial Clan Court invests in it, our imperial clan members will also receive dividends in the future. This is a highly profitable business, and if managed properly, our Ming imperial clan will have another source of income.”

Old Zhu immediately beamed with joy. He gave his position to his eldest son and grandson, but that didn't mean he didn't care about his other descendants. He also hoped that his other descendants could live better lives.

Zhu Yunying further explained, "The Maritime Trade Office has some output, the bank has some output, and there are also their respective salaries and fiefdoms. If it weren't for your reckless and wasteful behavior, you would definitely be wealthy."

Zhu Yunwen didn't care about being criticized, and simply said, "That's fine, Your Majesty, you can help us invest. It's just that the household is a little short of money."

Old Zhu glared at his lazy grandson, thinking how utterly despicable he was. However, Old Zhu couldn't scold or hit this unruly grandson; out of respect for his eldest grandson, he could only glare helplessly.

"Actually, there are other motives behind bringing along members of the imperial clan," Zhu Yunying said with a smile, making no attempt to hide it. "Some people are naturally worried that depositing money in the bank might reveal their wealth and arouse suspicion from the court. We have to be careful about this."

Zhu Yunwen's eyes darted around instantly. His elder brother's words made him think about it more, and he had to think about it more.

He loved to complain about being poor, and he genuinely felt he didn't have much money. But even if he carefully managed his finances, he still had quite a bit. He'd spent a lot, but also saved some; this certainly couldn't have been achieved through his salary and rewards alone.

If all of this were deposited in a bank, the Emperor could easily find out how much wealth the Prince of Wu possessed simply by asking around. This might not be good news for Zhu Yunwen.

Old Zhu's eyes lit up; he thought this was a good idea. If they knew where the wealthy households were and how much money they had, they might actually be able to seize that money if necessary.

It would be easy to fabricate a charge of confiscating property and exterminating the entire clan. At that point, all that wealth would be deposited into the national treasury, and the money would belong to the Zhu family, where it could be put to great use!

Seeing Zhu's expression, Zhu could roughly guess what his imperial grandfather was thinking. However, putting those things aside for now, there were some things that definitely couldn't be done, at least not too excessively; killing the goose that lays the golden eggs was not a good idea.

As for wealthy families, there's nothing to worry about. In this era of feudal imperial power, being too rich was sometimes a sin. The royal family would simply 'deposit' their gold and silver treasures with these wealthy families, and retrieve them when needed.

No matter how rich you are, it's sometimes all in vain, because the emperor of the Ming Dynasty had power and soldiers, and wealthy families had no way to resist.

The matter of banking is certainly worth discussing in depth, but for now, this is just a brief exchange of information and a simple sharing of my thoughts. There will definitely be more detailed plans later.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!