At this moment, Zhao Huan was intently studying the map of foreign lands presented by Su Ziyu in the imperial study, pondering where the Song Dynasty's territory should extend in the next ten years and what it could gain.
The fire in the stove was burning brightly, and a young eunuch was adding charcoal.
Zhao Ding entered the palace and went directly to the emperor's study.
"Your subject Zhao Ding greets Your Majesty."
"My dear minister, there's no need for such formalities."
Zhao Huan turned around and looked at the middle-aged man in front of him.
Zhao Ding was the foremost of the four wise ministers after Zhao Gou moved south in orthodox history. He was somewhat conservative in nature, but he still managed to hold the situation together.
"How are you settling in, my dear minister?"
"Your Majesty, everything is going smoothly."
"I have finished reading your 'Four Strategies for Banking in the Great Song Dynasty' and I am very pleased. It is a great fortune for the Great Song Dynasty to have your talent."
"Your Majesty flatters me. It is my duty to share your burdens."
Zhao Huan said, "However, I would like to remind you that you must not allow the money that the court lends to the people to flow excessively into any one area."
"Your Majesty, rest assured, I will strictly control the process."
Zhao Huan was indeed very satisfied with Zhao Ding's plan.
Zhao Ding's four strategies were actually very simple, sharp, and practical.
The money from the Great Song Bank should first flow into the areas of clothing, food, housing, and transportation.
These four areas are fundamental to people's livelihood, yet each plays a different role.
However, for people in ancient times who had no experience with market economies, the most likely problem at the beginning was that while infrastructure construction boosted employment and ordinary people became richer, grain production and the clothing industry did not take off. This could easily lead to a sudden increase in the amount of money in people's hands, resulting in insufficient supply of goods and severe inflation.
At this point, the economy is basically on the verge of collapse.
Therefore, relying on infrastructure construction to drive the economy is indeed a tried-and-true method, but the market's supply of goods must keep up.
This is why Zhao Huan spared no effort to conquer the south and attack Jiaozhi.
That was his way of laying the groundwork for the vigorous development of the Song Dynasty's national economy.
The tasks to be accomplished at each stage are different. At this stage, there is only one thing to do: ensure that the people have enough to eat and wear!
When there is a surplus of goods in the market, and infrastructure construction is difficult to halt, that's the next stage of the problem.
There will always be problems in development, and we cannot stop moving forward because of problems.
Therefore, Zhao Huan genuinely supported Zhao Ding in doing so.
However, as the bank in charge of the empire's reserve funds, the Song Dynasty Bank must strictly control the flow of funds to its users.
For the emperor, it was more preferable to channel the money in the Song Dynasty's banks to ordinary people who did not have a large family fortune but were willing to work hard to achieve a better life.
This approach can effectively curb the formation of oligopolies by wealthy businessmen who are already rich, and also create a benchmark for ordinary people to achieve wealth through hard work, encouraging more people to engage in down-to-earth labor.
However, things didn't go as planned. These people often had very low risk tolerance and lacked business acumen. They also had very few resources of their own. If the imperial court lent them money, they were likely to lose everything.
The money in the Imperial Bank of the Great Song Dynasty didn't just appear out of thin air by planting and watering crops; it was deposited by the people who trusted the imperial court.
If the imperial court cannot recover this money, it will have no money to give to the people when they come to collect it.
Even if the Song Dynasty's printing presses were to print money, they still had to consider the overall production volume of the nation. They couldn't just print money arbitrarily. If the speed of money printing far exceeded the speed of commodity production, it would lead to a financial collapse. Even if Zhao Huan could reach for the moon, he would be powerless to reverse the situation.
Therefore, supporting poor people to start businesses and achieve financial freedom is not simply a matter of giving them money.
We also need to provide technology, management knowledge, and, more importantly, create a reasonable set of social rules.
For example, commercial agreement systems and patent systems are the foundation for protecting the healthy development of commerce.
The agricultural crash course that Zhao Huan wanted to support was intended to improve the abilities of ordinary people, so that he wouldn't end up losing everything after lending money to him, his mind going blank.
If they can't repay their debts, the imperial court has to foot the bill. The consequence of the imperial court footing the bill is that it prints money, which devalues the currency and harms the people of the whole country.
In fact, Zhao Ding wrote about his policies and concerns regarding lending to ordinary people and wealthy merchants in his "Four Strategies".
The money lent out is tiered, and it is easier for the wealthy to borrow money. They only need to register their household registration information and deposit information to obtain a certain amount of loan.
For ordinary people to borrow money, they need to provide household registration information, bank account information, as well as household registration information and personal guarantee certificates of relatives and friends. These relatives and friends must have certain assets in their names.
Furthermore, many restrictions were placed on loans for ordinary people, such as repayment dates being half that of wealthy businessmen, and regulations governing the industries one could engage in after taking out a loan.
Zhao Ding seemed not to have grasped the implied meaning of the emperor's reminder.
His lending policies in "Four Policies for Banks in the Great Song Dynasty" actually favored wealthy merchants to a large extent, as it was much easier for them to obtain loans than for ordinary people.
This might indeed accomplish the task assigned by the emperor, but it could easily make the rich richer and the poor poorer, making it even more difficult for the poor to start a business with the funds they need.
Of course, Zhao Huan cannot blame Zhao Ding either; he did this out of consideration for the overall risk.
This is also why Zhao Huan wanted Zhao Ding to take this position. At any time, overall risk must be the top priority. Once the overall risk goes wrong, it will have far-reaching consequences and endanger the entire Song Dynasty.
A young eunuch entered and said, "Your Majesty, Minister Xu and Minister Tang request an audience."
"Let them in."
Since we're discussing economic issues, how could we leave out Xu Churen and Tang Ke?
Xu Churen has a very important task for next year: to double the income of the people in the Central Plains!
Xu Churen is now brimming with energy, because he has tasted the benefits of infrastructure construction and the Song Dynasty Royal Bank.
He thought Zhao Huan was simply a genius unlike any other in history. Abolishing corvée labor was absolutely the right thing to do. If corvée labor hadn't been abolished, the more roads were built, the more it would have harmed the people. But if corvée labor had been abolished, the more roads and buildings were built, the happier the people would be.
Because the imperial court has the money to give!
In this way, his goal of doubling the per capita income in the Central Plains region next year is entirely achievable!
Xu Churen and Tang Ke entered: "Your Majesty, we pay our respects."
No need for formalities.
Xu Churen and Tang Ke ran into Zhao Ding again.
Zhao Huan showed Zhao Ding's "Four Policies on Banking in the Great Song Dynasty's Commerce and Trade" to Xu Churen and Tang Ke.
Tang Ke watched with a broad smile. As the person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, with Zhao Ding's strong support, his mission was sure to be accomplished.
But Grand Chancellor Xu Churen was about to jump up in anger. According to this ridiculous four-pronged strategy, the rich would get richer and the common people would get poorer. Wouldn't that mean he couldn't achieve his goal of doubling the income of the common people?
The emperor's assessment of him was not simply the total amount divided by the number of people, but rather he first removed the upper and middle households and directly calculated the income of the lower households.
No, no!
If things are done this way, the position of the labor-management tyrant will be gone.
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