Chapter 143 Opening

Two months later, the first bank of the Tang Dynasty officially opened its doors for business in the prosperous East Market of Chang'an City.

During these two months, Li Chengqian spared no effort to promote the bank. The matter of

opening a bank has long been known to everyone. During this period of time, the most discussed topic after dinner is this new industry that suddenly emerged - banks.

Even if you just walk on the street, you can hear people constantly discussing the topic, and every three sentences are about banks.

"Have you heard about it? I heard that the court is going to set up a bank called something?" "Yes

, I heard about it. Not only did I hear about it, I also read today's Tang Daily, which clearly wrote about it."

"Oh! I heard that this bank will give you interest as long as you deposit money. I don't know if it's true or not."

"I think it's probably fake. How can there be such a good thing in the world? As long as you put money in, they will give you interest?"

"In my opinion, you'd better stop daydreaming! How can there be such a good thing as pie in the sky in the world? I'm sure this must be a scam."

"No way! This is an industry founded by the court. The court should not deceive us. Anyway, I don't trust anyone but the court."

"If you don't believe what I said, then go and try it to see if it's true."

"Let's try it, who's afraid of who! When the bank opens, I'll be the first to deposit money."

"Okay! Each of you should be quiet. If you follow what I said, it's not impossible that it's true. This bank still has loan business."

Such conversations can be heard everywhere in the streets and alleys of Chang'an City.

Therefore, on the opening day, there were crowds of people in front of the bank, and everyone was crowding in front of the bank to watch the excitement.

In order to maintain order, Li Chengqian also sent Cheng Wuting to lead a few hundred Donggong guards, and then selected some soldiers from the Jinwu Guards to serve as security guards to maintain order on the scene.

Seeing the fully armed troops standing around the bank to maintain order, people's trust in the bank increased.

Most of these people are just watching the situation from the other side. They are afraid that the bank is just a scam. They want to wait until the first person to try it out has a good result before they can deposit their money in the bank.

Some people are cautious and worried about the risks, so they can only watch from the sidelines.

Naturally, some people will dare to stand up first with a fighting spirit, deposit their savings in the bank, and wait for the final result.

Seeing someone stand up to deposit money, some greedy and trend-following people also stand up and deposit part of their savings in the bank.

"Please keep this. In the future, when you come to withdraw money in person with this, our bank will process it for you."

After each deposit, the bank staff will give the depositor a deposit slip, in duplicate, and one copy will be kept in the bank.

Even if it is accidentally lost or for other reasons, as long as you come in person, you can report the loss and get a replacement copy based on the slip left in the bank.

In addition, there is a mark on this slip that the court uses to prevent counterfeiting.

This is to prevent people from making counterfeit and fake slips to commit fraud.

"Everyone who wants to borrow money, please come here." The staff shouted at the loan window opposite the deposit window.

Merchants who need capital to trade come to the counter here to apply for loans.

"This is the loan contract you want to borrow. If there is no problem, just sign and seal it here, and you can borrow the money you want from our bank." The staff served the customer with a smile.

After the customer carefully read the contract, he confirmed again and again: "Just sign and seal it here, and then use the house and land as collateral, and I can borrow the money I want from you, right?"

"Yes, as long as you use the house and other valuables as collateral, our bank will give you the corresponding loan money. You can rest assured about this. This bank is a formal institution run by the court, and it is absolutely fair to everyone." The staff still maintained a smile to serve.

After getting a positive answer, the customer smiled and took out the house deed that had been prepared and placed it on the counter.

He waited for the staff to appraise the house. He would be able to borrow the amount of money his house was worth. After

both parties signed the contract, the borrower could take the loan and only needed to pay a fixed amount of money every month.

This is the bank's mortgage loan business. As long as the bank has the collateral, there is no need to worry about the other party running away. If the other party cannot pay back the money, the bank can directly sell the collateral.

The bank's business is in full swing, and more and more people come to handle deposits and loans.

As merchants got loans to expand production and operations and made more money, more and more people tasted the sweetness and took valuable things from their homes to the bank as collateral in exchange for funds to do business.

With the establishment of banks, it brought a lot of convenience to everyone. Merchants had enough funds to expand production and operations, which also led to the development of the economic market.

The more profits the bank made, the more money flowed into the Eastern Palace.

Therefore, Li Chengqian also distributed welfare to the Eastern Palace, which made the Eastern Palace overflow with joy.

Looking at the Eastern Palace making money every day, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue who managed the money and grain were very greedy, but no one dared to jump out to collect taxes or something.

This is the Crown Prince's property. Who dares to jump out and ask the Crown Prince for money? Isn't that like an old man hanging himself because he thinks his life is too long?

Fortunately, they are not stupid. They took out all the savings in their family, deposited them in the bank and earned the interest every month.

Although the interest is not much, it is still meat no matter how small the mosquito leg is. As long as they pay the interest every month, they will not complain about it.

The news of Li Chengqian opening a bank soon reached Li Er's ears.

The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue instigated Fang Xuanling to submit a report to Li Er together, reporting to Li Er about Li Chengqian's opening of a bank in Chang'an City.

Fang Xuanling did not think much about it, but just treated it as a routine matter. After all, he had to report such a big thing as the Crown Prince opening a bank.

Moreover, the Minister of Revenue is an honest man, without so many tricks. Reporting the banking industry to His Majesty Li Er is also his job as the Minister

of Revenue. As for whether to levy commercial taxes on banks, it depends on His Majesty Li Er's opinion.

After reading it, Li Er was shocked! The more he read, the more shocked he was!

That day, he wrote a letter to Li Chengqian, who was far away in Chang'an, hoping that he could use the bank's profits to operate the bank.

Half of the remaining money would belong to the Donggong, and the other half could be used to replenish the national treasury.

The post stations in the Tang Dynasty required a large amount of funds to maintain every year, and Li Er often worried about money.

With the bank's profits injected into the national treasury, Li Er would not have to worry about the maintenance of the post stations.